A multi-millionaire who crashed his brand new Ferrari while twice the legal limit faces a hefty court bill after his appeal was dismissed.
hristopher Walsh is also facing a possible police investigation into allegations he perjured himself in the witness box as he tried to clear his name.
It’s almost seven years since the millionaire property developer lost control of his €175,000 Ferrari California T on the Belfast Road in Holywood.
He crashed into two parked cars and then fled the scene, knowing he was well over the alcohol limit.
Dismissing his appeal last week in Belfast, the judge hit out at the 48-year-old, branding him a “completely incredible witness” and that he did “not believe” a word of his story.
Walsh had sought to have the case thrown out, arguing there was an abuse of process.
But Judge Richard Greene QC was having none of it, saying: “I reject completely any allegations of impropriety on the part of the prosecution.”
Accordingly, Walsh was convicted again of driving with excess alcohol, careless driving, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.
Prosecutors said they would be applying to recoup their costs from him.
It was a warm and sunny Saturday afternoon when Walsh, more than twice the legal drink drive limit, put the roof down in his red Ferrari and drove to Holywood to go to a barbecue at his partner’s house.
However, when he pulled off the carriageway and lost control on a slight incline and right-hand bend.
Having crashed into two cars and with the force of the impact shearing off the front passenger wheel, Walsh fled the scene.
He tried to hide in bushes in the grounds of the offices of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS).
But he was followed by a witness and an off-duty police officer. The constable said when he tried to help him stand up he was unsteady on his feet and his breath had a “strong smell of intoxicating liquor”.
Arrested for driving while unfit and taken to Bangor PSNI station, he initially refused to give an evidential sample. When he eventually did, he was found to be more than twice the legal limit.
At his appeal Walsh said the “last straw” for him was when a resident came out to take photographs of the crash scene, in his view “to try to make a few bob”.
Having tried and failed to put the roof of his convertible back up, he decided the best option was just to leave.
He claimed he drank a quarter bottle of vodka in “three or four gulps” as he walked through the bushes at the CCMS.
Walsh will be back in court again in two weeks’ time.
He has been charged with, and denies, allegations that in May this year he drove on the Malone Road while unfit, without a licence and without insurance.
It’s also alleged when police were investigating him for driving with excess alcohol that he twice refused to provide a specimen.