AIR ACE IN COURT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21924, 6 October 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)

AIR ACE IN COURT

"A SHATTERED WRECK" LIFE BAN AS MOTORIST Stated to have- trained in tho machine; in which Bleriot first crossed the Channel, and to hold war decorations from three countries, a Jlying ace was described at Beaconsfield, England, a. few weeks ago, as " a shattered wreck." The man, Harry O'Hagan, of Queen's Gate Place, Kensington, was fined ;£SJ for being in charge of a motor-car 2 '(rial© under the influence of a drug, and he was disqualified for life from driving. Mr. F. Peregrine appeared foir him and pleaded guilty. A police officer stated that he saw O'Hagan come from a public-house and stagger to a car. He (the inspector), stopped the car as it was being started. A doctor who examined O'Hagan in court explained that his pulse was 120 and the pupils of hi 3 eyes were dilated. A London doctor stated that O'Hagan had been under his care for several months. He was suffering from a nervouu breakdown, for which he had prescribed.

Mr. Peregrine: In your view is thisi man an absolute danger on the road?— In my opinion he should not have been driving a car in this state, vl;'' " This man was one of the finest pilots ever trained 'in this country," Mr. Peregrine said. "He actually trained in the first aeroplane flown by Bleriot across the Channel. Throughout the war he was flying in France. He has crashed on more than one occasion.

"To-day, you are dealing • with a shattered wreck, but a man who holds the D.S.C. with bar, the French Croix de Guerre with two bars, and the Belgian Croix de Guerre with five bars. He has become a complete nervous wreck —a menace to the public if he is allowed to drive on the road."

The magistrates observed that when O'Hagan recovered his health he could apply for the removal of the disqualification