Family of woman who lay dead in crash for days confronts mechanic who falsified MOT

The family of crash victim Darcy Ross confronted Neil Lewis outside Cardiff Magistrates' Court

Angry scenes erupted outside court after the family of a woman killed in a car crash confronted a garage owner who falsified an MOT just weeks before.

Neil John Lewis, 47, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, and admitted he knew the car was "dangerous".

Eve Smith, 21, Darcy Ross, 21, and Rafel Jeanne, 24, died when the car given the false MOT crashed into woodland in Cardiff in March 2023. They lay undiscovered for two days. Two others survived.

As Lewis left court, the family of Ross brandished a framed photograph the dead woman, and shouted at him: "Darcy Ross, remember her name."

Darcy Ross's family confronted Neil Lewis after they left the court

The court heard the white Volkswagen Tiguan had been involved in an accident in Scotland in 2021 before being salvaged and then sold at auction to Joel Lia, a friend of Rafel Jeanne, who was driving on the night of the fatal crash.

The car failed an MOT carried out on 9 February 2023 with the warning system light on - indicating a fault with the seatbelt, air bag or both and the mileage recorded at about 98,000.

Alexander Lewis, the son of the defendant, carried out various repairs on the car but nothing on the warning system as this was something the garage was not able to do.

Lewis, of Llewellyn Avenue, Cardiff, retested the car on 23 February 2023, who told police in interview when he did so "the seatbelt and warning light were now off and the rear seatbelt was now working" so he "passed it with some advisories" and it was collected by Jeanne.

Neil Lewis pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation

He sent Lia a text starting with a grin emoji which read: "Car is done. It's 560 [pounds], you have to sort the seatbelt and the airbag light. I've passed the car though."

There were gasps in court as the text was read out from members of Ross's family with Lewis later acknowledging in an interview the car "was dangerous".

Prosecutor Francesca Parry said that the seatbelts on the car "had not been replaced since the first collision in 2021 and were not working properly, and this would have been obvious from a glance".

Eve Smith, 21, Rafel Jeanne, 24, and Darcy Ross, 21, died in the crash in March 2023

The five people travelling in the car - Sophie Russon, Smith, Ross, Jeanne and Shane Loughlin, 32 - were last seen at about 02:00 GMT on 4 March 2023 after they went missing on a night out.

The families of the three young women had all r