'Mad Dog's' Sister In Boozy Bus Crash

A female member of a notorious south London crime family, who have clocked-up over eighty-three convictions including murder and wounding, crashed into a bus full of passengers while three times the alcohol limit and without a licence and insurance after an all-day drinking-session.

Louise Sonnex, 40, knocked back rum in the morning and joined more friends in the afternoon, who helped polish off a dozen cans of lager, before jumping behind the wheel of a pal's car and careering into a busy road, where she struck the double-decker and bounced into railings, knocking herself out on impact.

Sonnex, of Etta Street, Deptford pleaded guilty to driving the blue Peugeot carelessly and with excess alcohol in her breath in nearby Evelyn Street, on June 22, driving without a full licence and insurance and possessing a small quantity of cannabis resin.

A charge of aggravated taking and driving away of the vehicle and causing criminal damage was withdrawn by the Crown Prosecution Service.

She was sentenced to fourteen weeks imprisonment, suspended for two years; placed on  eighteen months probation, which includes a nine-month alcohol treatment requirement and was ordered to pay £200 costs and an £80 victim surcharge.

Sonnex was also disqualified from driving for two years. There were no separate penalties for the remaining driving offences or possessing the cannabis.

Her brother, Dano 'Mad Dog' Sonnex, 27, is serving life imprisonment, with a forty-year minimum, for the gruesome murders of French students Gabriel Ferez, 23, and Laurent Bonomo, 23, who were stabbed a total of 244 times on June 29, 2008.

Her father, Bernard Sonnex, 60, has at least twenty-six convictions, including firearms and drugs, and has been to prison six times and her brother Bernie Sonnex Jnr., 41, has been to prison at least ten times for a minimum of thirty-four offences, including theft and aggravated burglary.

Prosecutor Miss Thandi Lubimbi told Bexley Magistrates Court: "It was 7pm when the defendant came out of a junction, without paying attention, and drove into the side of the bus and then crashed into railings."

Sonnex was seen hanging out of the car's door, having knocked herself out when her head hit the dashboard.

"There were passengers in the bus and a passenger in the vehicle and an off-duty paramedic attended to the defendant, who then left the vehicle and returned later."

Officers noticed her breath smelled of alcohol and she was arrested, later giving a reading of 105 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - the legal limit is 35.

"The defendant did not have a licence and was not insured to drive the vehicle and when she was searched the cannabis was found," added Miss Lubimbi.

Sonnex has a criminal past to match her male relatives and has served time for the pub glassing of another woman and beating another woman with a golf club.

Her lawyer, who refused to give her name, told the court: "On the night before she had been drinking and when she woke up the next morning went to her friend Keith Jones's house and they both had drinks at 10am.

"She had a few rums and and the owner of the vehicle, Lisa Perry, pulled up and was invited into the garden where they all had drinks into the late afternoon.

"Lisa then invited them to her house and Miss Sonnex remembers having a roast dinner and more drinks and Mr. Jones remembers seeing a dozen empty cans on the table.

"She doesn't remember anything after that until the collision and waking up afterwards, but Mr. Jones says Lisa Perry was driving them home, but kept stopping to chat to friends and the third time she left the vehicle with the engine still running.

"Miss Sonnex was shouting at her to get back in the car and had moved across to the driver's seat when she panicked and the car accelerated and that's when the accident happened.

"She doesn't drive, she doesn't know how to drive and has had a provisional licence for years.

"She has a lot of issues in terms of mental health and has been diagnosed and is being looked at for bipolar and borderline personality disorder, depression and for a number of years abused drugs and more recently has misused alcohol."

District Judge Robert Hunter announced: "The public were put at considerable risk by her and of course she was uninsured."