Irish jockey Oisin Murphy speaks of ‘nightmare’ car crash and drink-driving conviction

Press Association

Oisin Murphy has described his car crash and subsequent conviction for drink-driving in England as “a nightmare for everyone involved”.

The four-times champion jockey was fined £70,000 (€80,000) and banned from driving for 20 months having pleaded guilty to one count of driving a motor vehicle while over the prescribed limit of alcohol after the accident in April.

Murphy (29) drove a grey Mercedes A Class off the road and into a tree in Hermitage, Berkshire, at about 12.05am on April 27th.

He had a passenger with him at the time, who was the owner of the car. They were both taken to hospital after the crash.

Murphy was later discharged to take a breathalyser test at a police station at about 7am, which showed a reading of 66mg per 100 millilitres of breath, “just shy of twice above the drink-driving limit” at the time of driving.

Following the conclusion of those court proceedings, the British Horseracing Authority announced the immediate imposition of “an extremely strict set of conditions and monitoring requirements” on Murphy’s riding licence which “must be adhered to at all times”, although the exact details remain confidential.

Speaking at Windsor on Monday evening, Murphy told Sky Sports Racing: “It’s very important not to make that error again, it was a nightmare particularly for everyone involved, not just myself, for everyone else and the people who had to pick up the pieces, my support network. Time is a great healer but I won’t be forgetting about that mistake.

“They [the BHA] never disclose licence information, I’m not the first jockey to drink and drive or commit offences, it’s obviously more high profile because it’s me. Due to the profile I have, those incidents should never occur but the BHA have been fantastic to work with and I really appreciate what they have done to help me and I want to repay them.”

Murphy said the passenger who was involved in the crash “is really well, that’s the most important thing” and spoke about the counselling he had received both before and after the accident.

He added: “I have been [in counselling] for the last four years and obviously had very good spells due to that support network and I relied on it an awful lot since late April and before it but certainly since late April and I have got to thank those people because they have gone above and beyond when the process hasn’t been very easy.”

However, Murphy criticised the coverage his case had received, saying: “There was going to be a lot said in the media and it’s important not to allow the media to bully you too much because you can get very down, but I had horses to ride and a job to do. It’s great to be riding every day and hopefully to the same level I was able to do at Royal Ascot and in the weeks previously.

He added: “Not everyone wants one to achieve, there’s a lot of jealousy out there, particularly in the media, but I worked all my life to ride good horses and I’ll continue to do that. The only thing that can inhibit me from not progressing further in my career is myself, so that’s a realisation.”