M40 death driver remanded in custody (Status: Press release)

BERNIE McDonagh, aged 24, from Middle Ground, Wheatley appeared at Oxford Magistrates? Court on Friday (9/1) charged with causing death while driving without due care and attention, failing to provide a specimen, failing to stop at the scene of a collision, driving while disqualified, driving with no insurance, perverting the course of justice, arson and possession of a class C drug.

McDonagh has been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Oxford Crown Court on 16 January.

Ed. The charges relate to a road traffic incident on July 12, between Milton Common and Lewknor, when a white Ford transit van was in collision with a blue Ford Fiesta. Both vehicles ended up down an embankment, where the Fiesta overturned, trapping the three people inside.

Ross Shears, a 29-year-old man from Crowborough, East Sussex, was a passenger in the Ford Fiesta and was pronounced dead at the hospital. His mother remains in hospital with serious injuries.

The van drove from the scene across a field before coming to rest in a ditch. The occupants then ran off.

Photo: The late Ross Shears with he wife, Leah. Ross died after the car he was travelling in on the M40, was in collison with a white van.