A Cardiff garage owner who fraudulently passed an MOT on a car which was involved in a crash weeks later that killed three young people has been given a community order.

Neil John Lewis, 47, from Ely, admitted fraud by false representation after falsifying the MOT test certificate for a Volkswagen Tiguan.

At Cardiff Magistrates’ Court, Lewis was handed a 12-month community order and ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.

The Volkswagen was later involved in the fatal crash off the A48 near St Mellons in Cardiff during the early hours of March 4, 2023.

Darcy Ross, 21, Eve Smith, 21, and Rafel Jeanne, 24, who was driving, died in the collision.

Two other passengers, Sophie Russon and Shane Loughlin, survived but suffered serious injuries.

The vehicle left the road and entered woodland close to a roundabout shortly after 2am.

It was not discovered until almost two days later, after relatives and friends had reported members of the group missing and carried out searches for them.

Family confront garage owner outside court

The case has caused renewed distress for the families of those killed.

Outside an earlier court hearing at which Lewis entered his guilty plea, members of Darcy Ross’s family held up a framed photograph of her and shouted: “Darcy Ross, remember her name.”

The fraudulent MOT offence is separate from the circumstances which caused the fatal collision, and Lewis was not prosecuted for causing the deaths.

Four Gwent Police officers are also due to face gross misconduct proceedings over aspects of the force’s response to the missing-person reports and search for the vehicle.