Woman jailed for helping partner try to evade justice after he'd killed a man in Coventry

A woman has been jailed for helping her then-partner flee the country after he’d murdered a father when he drove into him in a car in Coventry.

Bethany Donohue joined Ashley Donald as he left the country two days after he’d killed Andrew Flamson in the fatal collision in Grosvenor Road in 2022.

 

Donald was driving a silver Mondeo when he deliberately went the wrong way up the one-way street and hit the 40-year-old as he walked his dog just before 11pm on 12 July.

Donohue bought two ferry tickets to Ireland and travelled there with Donald as he attempted to avoid justice.

But our investigators used detailed phone work, CCTV analysis and scrutinised bank transactions to trace what was happening and who was involved.

Donohue was arrested on 19 July when she landed at Birmingham Airport.

We'd also started the process to extradite Donald from Ireland but he was arrested in September when he returned to the UK and handed himself in at Coventry Police Station.

Today (Monday) Donohue, aged 23, of Albany Road, Coventry, was jailed for three years at Leamington Crown Court for assisting an offender.

Donald’s mother Faye Gowdy, aged 44, of Carpenter Road, Edgbaston, who was also convicted of the offence, will be sentenced on Friday, 27 September.

In May last year, Donald was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 23 years after being convicted of Mr Flamson's murder.

Three other men who were also in the car at the time were convicted of manslaughter and were each jailed for between 12 and 15 years.

Det Insp Tom Lyons, from the Major Crime Unit, said: "Using a car as a weapon is a shocking decision to take and resulted in a man losing his life.

"For someone to then chose to try and help that person evade justice cannot be tolerated and we will always do all we can to bring them before the courts as well.

"In this case it has resulted in a young woman now facing time behind bars which we hope will serves as a deterrent to others considering taking similar action in the future."