Dangerous driver jailed 13 years for killing Wrexham mum while fleeing police
Michael Connors, 28, of Dublin, struck Lydia La Polla's car at 63mph in Wrexham in March 2025. He fled to Ireland but was extradited and jailed for 13 years.
Dublin man sentenced for fatal high-speed crash in Wrexham
Michael Connors, 28, of Landen Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin, has been jailed for 13 years after killing Lydia La Polla, 47, in Wrexham in March 2025, bbc.com reports. Connors fled to Ireland following the crash and was returned to Wales on an international arrest warrant.
Connors was driving a silver Mercedes at 71mph in a 20mph zone seconds before the collision on 24 March 2025, when a police officer had begun to follow the vehicle. The Mercedes struck the passenger side of Lydia La Polla's Toyota Yaris at 63mph, causing it to become airborne, roll over, and hit a wall. Lydia's husband, Robert La Polla, 44, was seriously injured in the crash, as was a 16-year-old girl who was a passenger in Connors' car.
Connors' DNA was found on an airbag inside the Mercedes, and his fingerprint was identified on a can of Red Bull in the vehicle.
Sentencing at Mold Crown Court, Judge Simon Mills said Lydia's "excellent life was needlessly cut short at the age of 47, not far from her 25th wedding anniversary". He described Connors' departure from the scene as a "cowardly fashion" and said it was "simply by chance" that more people were not killed as a result of his "dangerous" and "completely selfish actions".
Judge Mills noted that Connors had no insurance and no driving licence at the time of the crash, and that he had been on licence from a previous prison term. Four wraps of cannabis were found in the vehicle, though the judge said he did not assume Connors had been under the influence.
"If the defendant has any sense of decency at all, he will carry the weight of what he did until the end of his days," Judge Mills said.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Robert La Polla described the death of his wife as leaving him with a "profound sense of loss". "My life will never be the same again," he wrote. "To say I am heartbroken is an understatement."
La Polla said his children "absolutely adored" their mother and expressed grief that she would not be present for their weddings or to see them raise families of their own. "Our close family unit has been shattered into a thousand pieces, and it will never be the same again without Lydia."
Prosecutor David Mainstone told the court that Connors had a record for 64 offences, including nine dangerous driving allegations in Ireland, nine offences for driving without insurance, and a six-year sentence handed down in Britain in 2021 for conspiracy to burgle. He had driven across two junctions in two "highly dangerous" manoeuvres before the fatal collision.
Connors pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and to causing serious injury by dangerous driving. In addition to his 13-year custodial sentence, he received an eight-year driving ban with an extended re-test, to take effect upon his release.
Jane Miller, defending, said Connors "appears genuine in his remorse" and had "had time to reflect upon his conduct".
Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)