Shamed ex-London council chief executive sentenced for drink-drive crash

The former chief executive for Lambeth Council has been banned from driving after he crashed his car whilealmost three times the drink-drive limit.

Bayo Dosunmu, 46, was uninsuredand he failed to stop after the crash near to Wandsworth Bridge, and he hadslurred speech when he was eventually pulled over.

He resigned from his £187,000-a-yearcouncil job after he was charged with offences in July.

At Westminster magistrates courton Monday, Dosunmu was sentenced to a 12-month community order, with 15 days ofrehab sessions and 150 hours of community service.

Dosunmu admitted drink driving,failing to stop after a crash, and driving without insurance.

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspringsaid Dosunmu had minimised the amount he had to drink that night.

“You brought about this yourself”,he told the defendant, before accepting his long history of public service.

Dosunmu was disqualified fromdriving for the next two years as a result of his convictions.

The court heard Dosunmu was driving a white Jeep at just before 9am on 23 June when he was involved in a collision with a blue Toyota, while it was waiting at traffic lights at the junction of WandsworthBridge Road and Townmead Road in Fulham.

Dosunmu drove away instead ofstopping after the crash, and the driver of the Toyota tailed him until he hadto pull in front of the Jeep to get it to stop.

At the roadside, police said Dosunmuwas slurring his words and was “struggling to follow directions”.

Prosecutor Thomas Murphy saidDosunmu had driven a “short distance” from the crash site, and “only stoppedbecause the member of the public in the other vehicle followed and put his carin a position so the defendant could no longer drive away”.

Dosunmu, who was living in anapartment overlooking the Thames in Chelsea Harbour, failed a roadside breathtest, and in a second test at a police station he had 100 micrograms of alcoholin 100 millilitres of breath.

The legal limit is 35 microgramsof alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath

Dosunmu was appointed chiefexecutive of Lambeth Council in April 2022.

Fiona Connolly, Lambeth’scorporate director of housing and adult social care, has been acting chiefexecutive since his departure, pending the recruitment of a new chiefexecutive.

Dosunmu is the formerexecutive director of Homes England, having also worked for the Welshgovernment and the Olympic Delivery Authority, according to his gov.uk profile.

His lawyer, Colin Aylott KC, said Dosunmu has a “history ofpublic service”, and he had “some degree of pride” when he got the Lambeth job.

“To have lost his job and the ramifications that flow fromthat have taken a heavy toll on him”, he said, adding that Dosunmu is nowliving with his sister.