Jailed: Jonathan Knowles has been sentenced to seven years in prison for causing death by dangerous driving
A tycoon’s drunken son mowed down and killed a wealthy couple after choosing to drive just 300 yards home.
Jonathan Knowles, 33, who had been drowning his sorrows a day after being made bankrupt, staggered into his mother’s £60,000 Mercedes sports car and ploughed into Alan and Rochelle Bernard.
He sped around the millionaires’ row of Sandbanks, in Poole, Dorset, ‘like a Formula 1 driver’ before losing control and mounting the pavement, killing the couple almost instantly in the 60mph crash.
A female friend who was with them was seriously injured.
The crash happened yards from the front gates of Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp’s harbourside home.
Mr Bernard, 53, and his 51-year-old wife were walking to their holiday home having spent the evening at the same restaurant as Knowles.
Yesterday Knowles, whose father John is an industrial property tycoon, was jailed for seven years.
A court heard he had built up a small property portfolio which had suffered due to the economic downturn. This led to him being made bankrupt.
A day later, on the evening of September 11 last year, he was drinking in the Cafe Shore restaurant in Sandbanks.
The Bernards, their teenage daughter Natasha and a friend of hers had enjoyed a meal there at the same time with family friend Penny Michalowski and her son Lawrence.
The teenagers left the restaurant at 10pm to attend a beach party and the adults started walking the 500 yards home at 10.30pm.
Crash: The scene of the accident near Harry Redknapp's house in the expensive resort of Sandbanks in Dorset
Minutes later Knowles was seen staggering out of the restaurant and getting in the passenger side of the Mercedes CLK350 convertible before ‘falling’ into the driver’s seat.
Witnesses heard the wheels screech as he accelerated away, weaving from side to side as if he was ‘warming up the tyres like a Formula 1 driver,’ the court heard.
Carolyn Branford-Wood, prosecuting, told Bournemouth Crown Court: ‘Knowles got into a Mercedes CLK convertible with a three-litre engine belonging to his mother.
‘It was a busy evening and witnesses who saw Knowles making his way to the Mercedes described him as swaying and wobbling on his feet.
‘There was harsh acceleration. Witnesses heard tyres squealing and the car was going “snakey” from side to side.
‘It accelerated along Banks Road in excess of the 30mph limit – one witness, a driving instructor, estimated the speed at 80mph.
‘Another witness following the Mercedes saw the car jinking. He then saw what looked like an explosion of glass.’
Victims: Alan and Rochelle Bernard were parents of three children, and owned a successful business
Mr Bernard was found lying face down in the road. His lower left leg had been severed in the crash.
Mrs Bernard’s body was discovered a few minutes later by residents after it had been catapulted into a front garden. Mrs Michalowski had a serious injury to her left heel.
Knowles, whose parents live in a £4million seafront home on Sandbanks, was arrested at the scene.
Police investigators later put the speed of his Mercedes at about 60mph at the time of the crash.
The Bernards had three children aged 27 to 17 – Jamie, Robert and Natasha. They lived in Northwood, Middlesex. Mr Bernard was a successful businessman and the managing director of the home extension firm Plus Rooms.
Ronald Jaffa, defending, said Knowles had mixed anti-depressant pills with alcohol and suffered from a mental condition. Judge Samuel Wiggs said Knowles had chosen to drive his mother’s Mercedes ‘rather than walk 300 yards to get yourself home’.
He added: ‘There was no need to get into the car. You must have known you had drunk too much to drive. The tragedy is almost impossible to describe.’
Knowles pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving as well as grievous bodily harm in relation to Mrs Michalowski and failing to provide a breath sample.
He was jailed for seven years and banned from driving for seven years. dailymail.co.uk
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