Survivor passenger of A48 crash that killed three had been 'doing balloons' at 80 mph while driving

A dangerous driver filmed himself inhaling balloons believed to contain nitrous oxide while driving before a fatal collision on the A48 which killed three people. He was trapped in the wreckage for 48 hours before he and the rest of the group were discovered.

Shane Loughlin, 32, was the passenger of a Volkswagen Tiguan which veered off the A48 near St Mellons, in Cardiff, in the early hours of March 4 this year and crashed into woodland. As a result of the collision, driver Rafel Jeanne, 24, and passengers Eve Smith, 21, Darcy Ross, 21, were killed.

When the group was discovered by police on March 6, Loughlin and another passenger Sophie Russon, 20, were found alive but critically injured and were taken to hospital. A police investigation into the collision later discovered that Loughlin had been behind the wheel of the Tiguan prior to the collision.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday heard an iPhone, a packet of balloons, and multiple canisters of nitrous oxide were seized from the Tiguan. A sixth passenger, Joel Lia, was also found to have driven the car before the collision, but was dropped off in Llanedeyrn at 2am.

Lia later told police “everyone” on the vehicle was using balloons to inhale nitrous oxide, including himself, Loughlin and Mr Jeanne who drove from Porthcawl to Newport to get the girls.

Further amounts of alcohol and nitrous oxide were purchased and Mr Lia said the group “partied” at Loughlin’s caravan in Porthcawl, drinking alcohol and using the balloons. Lia said Mr Jeanne was primarily the driver that night but Loughlin drove the car at “some point”.

Police later discovered CCTV at a petrol station in Castleton at 10.41pm which showed Loughlin gettingout of the driver’s seat, using the