Taxi Driver Online

The Star (Sheffield)

October 4, 2006

HEADLINE: Woman left her ex dying

A SOUTH Yorkshire alcoholic attacked her ex-husband in a taxi, then went to the pub as he lay dying, a court heard.

Marie Lynch assaulted former husband Patrick Lynch, aged 61, after he refused to get out of the cab after a night out in Sheffield.

She punched Patrick on the head and face, then went for another drink, although the taxi driver pleaded with her to help her dying ex-husband, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Andrew Kershaw, prosecuting, said the couple had been drinking heavily to celebrate Mrs Lynch's 55th birthday. They started drinking at home, then caught a taxi to the Alexandra on Blonk Street and drank pint after pint .

They caught another taxi to the Dog and Partridge in Trippet Lane. But they were so drunk staff refused to serve them. They went further down the road to the Grapes and carried on drinking.

Lynch phoned a taxi but the driver saw their condition and drove off. Patrick hailed a cab. The couple, who divorced in 1977 but were still in a relationship, told the driver to take them to her home in Wagon Road, Greasbrough, Rotherham. But they were arguing and swearing so much the driver ordered them to get out in Nursery Street.

Lynch did, but her former husband, an alcoholic, refused.She grabbed his collar and he said something. Mr Kershaw said: "Mrs Lynch said 'no one talks to Marie like that'. She then hit him with repeated blows in a windmill fashion as he raised his arms to defend himself."

Lynch left. The driver, who had called the police, asked her to stay, fearing Mr Lynch, of Holmes, Rotherham, was dying. Police arrested her in the Tap and Barrel in Castle Gate. She was so drunk officers could not interview her for 16 hours.

Lynch denies manslaughter. She had memory lapses caused by drugs to combat alcoholism. A post mortem revealed his death could have been caused by heart failure from regular heavy drinking; the amount he drank that day; or an adrenaline rush caused by the beating.

The trial continues.
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Now for anyone new to the PH trade, then please note this is rule number 1.

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IDFIMH

Well said, Sussex!!! Rule number 2 (for me anyway) is not to go out drinking with either of my ex-wives !!!

So how does that work then? does this women have 360 degree swivels on her elbows??

quite often though it's a pub landlord or even the police who call the taxi as a way of offloading the problem onto someone else and you don't know what state they are in till they are half in the car

The verdict of this sorry episode is delivered below.
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The Star (Sheffield)

October 11, 2006

HEADLINE: Woman killed in a drunken rage

A DRUNKEN woman who battered her former husband in a rage then went back to the pub as he lay dying has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Alcoholic Marie Lynch, aged 55, of Old Wortley Road, Kimberworth, was convicted of the manslaughter of her ex-husband Patrick.

A jury at Sheffield Crown Court returned a majority decision after considering their verdict for six hours and 15 minutes following the week-long trial.

The court heard the couple were in Sheffield city centre celebrating Mrs Lynch's birthday when she attacked him in the back of a taxi as they returned home. After the attack Lynch left the taxi and made her way to the Tap and Barrel Pub in Castlegate for another drink.

Judge Roger Keen QC told her: "In vile drunken temper you started to attack him. "There was a flurry of blows aimed at his head, at least four of which landed.

"Once you had vented your anger you acted with callous indifference by returning to the pub." Mr Lynch, 61, of Wagon Road, Greasborough, died from a heart attack and his death may have been caused by years of heavy drinking.

Judge Keen instructed the jury they could only return a guilty verdict if they considered Mrs Lynch's attack had significantly contributed to the death. The jury were also told the couple divorced after a series of attacks by Mr Lynch.

But despite their divorce they still loved each other and Lynch had continued to provide care for her desperately ill husband. Following the verdict Lynch's barrister Nick Rhodes asked the judge to impose a non-custodial sentence.

He said: "Her late husband would turn in his grave that she was convicted of this offence. This was a man living on very borrowed time." But Judge Keen said he had no option but to jail Lynch. He sympathised with her family but said his duties extended to the public.

He said: "The jury have convicted you of the manslaughter of your former husband, a man you loved and cared for in extremely difficult circumstances.

"The last thing you wanted to happen was for him to die."