TV Presenter DJ Ryan Hand in Drink-Driving Crash Drama

TV presenter and DJ Ryan Hand was more than twice the legal drink drive limit when he left his own lane and crashed into an oncoming car, a court heard today (thurs).

Court Appearance

TV presenter and DJ Ryan Hand was more than twice the legal drink drive limit when he left his own lane and crashed into an oncoming car, a court heard today (thurs). Standing in the dock of Downpatrick Magistrates Court wearing a navy shirt and trousers, 37-year-old Hand, with an address at Mountearl Gardens in London, was charged with driving with excess alcohol and careless driving arising from the road traffic collision on 14 September last year. Defence counsel Noel Dillon confirmed that Hand was entering guilty pleas to both charges and asked for the defendant’s case to be dealt with.

Events of the Crash

Hand had been DJing at the Irish Open in Royal Co. Down that day when he opted to get behind the wheel of a Fiat 500 car. A prosecuting lawyer told the court it was around 11pm when the PSNI received a report of a two vehicle RTC on the Castlewellan Road in Newcastle and when officers arrived at the scene, Hand’s car was lying on the driver’s side and the TV presenter was “trapped behind the wheel”. The driver of the other vehicle, a Renault Clio, told police how the Fiat 500 being driven by Hand had “veered across the road” and crashed into her and in the crash, she sustained a fractured ankle. Both drivers had to be cut from their respective vehicles by the NIFRS and when cops spoke to Hand, they noted that “his speech was slurred and he smelt of intoxicating liquor”.