A sportscar driver drunk and high on drugs who killed a woman and her three dogs as he raced through central London has been jailed for more than six years.
Laszlo Dancs, 28, lost control of his Audi TT as he drove along the Chelsea Embankment at more than three times the 20mph speed limit, smashing through a central reservation where 41-year-old Olivia Riley and the dogs were standing.
Ms Riley, the stepdaughter of best-selling author Lucinda Riley, died at the scene of the crash which happened at roughly 6.20am on May 14 last year on the Embankment close to Cheyne Walk in Chelsea.
She had been out for a Saturday morning walk with her family’s two labradors called Lily and Maia and a golden retriever puppy called Darcy who also died from their injuries.
The Old Bailey heard Dancs, from Heathfield Road in Ealing, west London, had been drinking and taking cocaine while out celebrating his 27th birthday. Vodka bottles and a bag of cocaine under the driver’s seat were recovered from the wrecked Audi.
Dancs, a pizza restaurant worker, was accused of attempting to shift the blame for the crash on to another driver, the court heard, and tests revealed he was over the drink drive limit and had cocaine in his system.
Sentencing Dancs to six years and eight months in prison, Judge Simon Medland KC said it was a “tragic, appalling, needless, and avoidable” death.
“It’s a tragic example of how motor vehicles we all rely on can become lethal weapons if driven dangerously and at speed as you did, while highly impaired by alcohol and cocaine”, he said.
Ms Riley’s father Stephen said, in a statement read to the court by his brother Mark, that his first wife died when his daughter was born, and he lost his second wife to cancer in 2021.
He said Ms Riley had taken on a maternal role for her younger stepbrother and stepsister when they lost their mother, and they have both been left “devastated” by her death.
“I have lost someone who was the brightest light in my life for 41 years and who I will miss and mourn so deeply throughout my final years”, he said.
Chris Riley, a cousin, described Ms Riley as a “guardian angel” for her father and the wider family, telling the court: “The cold reality of life without her is unbearable”.
He added: “I still can’t believe someone high on alcohol and drugs and driving at speed killed my wonderful cousin.”
Aunt Suzanne Riley said Ms Riley was “in the prime of her life” and on the cusp of setting up a retail business for dog lovers like herself.
She said Dancs “can’t be forgiven”, and questioned whether he “feels any sense of remorse for killing Olivia in the way he did when his actions demonstrated such contempt for the law”.
Another aunt, Zoe Clayson, called the death “senseless and avoidable”, and turned towards Dancs to say: “Olivia’s zest for life, endless love, loyalty to her family and friends, and her magical unspoilt nature is missed every second of every day.”
She added: “I find the defendant’s use of social media abhorrent, showing no remorse as he posted and filmed about fast cars and his pets.”
Dancs pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, driving while on drugs, and driving with excess alcohol in his system.
Prosecutor Suki Dhadda said footage from doorbell cameras, CCTV, and dashcams in other vehicles showed Dancs racing along the Embankment, firstly against a BMW and then alongside a C-Class Mercedes, prior to the fatal crash.
Over a stretch of 2.2km, Dancs was seen driving away from traffic lights at high speeds while apparently in competition with the other cars, reaching speeds of more than 65mph despite being in a 20mph zone.
“He was seen accelerating from the traffic lights faster than one of the vehicles and overtaking that vehicle on the approach to the collision”, said Ms Dhadda.
“He lost control of the vehicle, which then slid across the carriageway prior to striking Ms Riley who was standing on the pedestrian island.”
Ms Riley was declared dead at the scene within minutes of the crash alongside two of the family dogs, while a third dog died later despite the attentions of vets.
The passenger in the Audi admitted to police at the scene that they had been drinking and taking cocaine, while Dancs was heard insisting shortly after the crash that he “wasn’t drunk”.
Jeremy Dein KC, representing Dancs, said he had not intended to drink on his birthday night out, but ended up having vodka and beer.
“He became intoxicated and was given a line of cocaine, which he has always maintained was his first experience of drugs”, he said.
“Then of course he made the most monumental mistake imaginable to get into his vehicle and drive it.”
The barrister said Dancs accepted he had been driving “erratically”, and he added that the driver “himself is an animal lover and is truly heartbroken about what happened.”
Dancs, who moved to the UK from Hungary in 2014, had no previous convictions and wrote a letter to the judge expressing his “overwhelming sense of guilt”, said Mr Dein.
The judge imposed driving ban of five years and four months on Dancs, and he must pass an extended driving test before he can return to the roads.
