Police took 46 hours to find victims of fatal crash as court hears driver was intoxicated

dailyrecord.co.uk:

An inquest into a fatal road accident which killed three people has heard that the driver and passengers had been drinking and inhaling nitrous oxide before the crash.The crash killed driver Rafel Jeanne, 24, and passengers Darcy Ross, 21, and Eve Smith, 21, while Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, were injured but survived.

However, it took 46 hours for the car to be found by police. The Volkswagen Tiguan being driven by Jeanne veered off a slip road approaching a roundabout and came to rest in a small copse of trees, on the A48 near the St Mellons area of Cardiff around 2am on March 4 this year, reports Wales Online.

The five were discovered on Monday, March 6, around 46 hours after the crash happened. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is now investigating the length of time taken by Gwent Police and South Wales Police to find the group, who had been reported missing.The friends had been on a night out in Newport on March 3, travelling just under 40 miles to spend time in a caravan at the Trecco Bay Caravan Park in Porthcawl.

They were last seen at around 2am in the Pentwyn area of Cardiff dropping off a sixth member of the group, Joel Lia.It has been revealed in a behind-closed-doors hearing at Cardiff Magistrates' Court that that the friends had been drinking alcohol and inhaling nitrous oxide – also known as laughing gas – prior to the collision.Joel Lia had been driving the Volkswagen Tiguan an hour before the crash.