A beauty queen who told police burglars had stolen her car after she crashed it at 4am was once part of an in-house pop band at one of the country's top cabaret clubs.
Victoria McInerney smashed her Mercedes into a set of traffic lights on a main road, fled the scene then falsely reported the vehicle as stolen. She punched the air in delight after walking free from Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday.
The ECHO can now reveal the sales director and pilates studio owner's notable history in the entertainment world. Not only was the now 38-year-old crowned Miss Liverpool in her first beauty pageant as a teenager, McInerney also competed for the title of Miss England in 2003.
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The then 19-year-old ultimately lost out to Miss Poole Jackie Turner in a glittering ceremony at the Hammersmith Palais, with judges having included Alex Best, Dean Gaffney, Richard Blackwood and Simon Webbe. But that was far from the "award-winning dancer" and aspiring model and singer's only involvement in the industry.
McInerney, known as Vicky, also beat off 2,000 other entrants from across the country to join Cloud Nine - a six-piece boy and girl act which was house band at the Star in Blackpool. This venue sat in the shadow of Blackpool Pleasure Beach's the Big One and was regarded as one of the best in the UK for cabaret.
She spoke to the ECHO following her success and said: "I have always wanted to perform. I love singing, any type of song from rock to ballads.
"I like people from Avril Lavigne to Celine Dion. I love to entertain and my ambition would be to be well known for what I like to do."
McInerney, of Manor Drive in Netherton, admitted perverting the course of justice and failing to stop after an accident in connection with the incident on Poulton Road, Wirral, in the early hours of January 21 this year. After the collision, she told a taxi driver at the scene: "My boyfriend is going to kill me - look what I've done to the car."
The motorist then left the area before police and paramedics arrived. At 9am, she called Merseyside Police to report that the company car had been pinched during a burglary.
McInerney told officers she had stayed overnight at her then boyfriend's home on nearby Deveraux Drive, arriving shortly before 8pm and leaving her vehicle parked outside with the keys left near to the unlocked front porch. She stated that she had gone to bed at 11pm and awoke to find her car had gone.
But subsequent enquiries revealed CCTV footage of the accident, which was played to the court and showed McInerney exiting the driver's side door. Police returned to the address at lunchtime the same day, at which point she confessed that she had invented the story.
The driver said she had been unable to sleep and was driving to a garage to buy cigarettes when she "lost control" of the Merc. McInerney had then "panicked" because she "didn't want to lose her job".
Michael Scholes, defending, told the court that his client acts as a carer for several family members and has a history of physical and mental health problems. He also described her as a "hard-working, responsible and well thought-of young woman".
McInerney - who has no previous convictions - was handed a 12-month community order with 80 hours of unpaid work and a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 10 days. She was handed seven penalty points, but was allowed to remain on the roads after pleading "significant hardship" due to the impact any disqualification would have on her work.
Judge Louise Brandon also told her to pay £2,055 in compensation to Wirral Council, £500 in court costs and a £95 victim surcharge. Sentencing, she said: "Offences of this nature undermine the very nature of the criminal justice system.
"But I very much doubt that we will be seeing you in this court again. You have never been before the courts before, and you don't pose a risk to the public in my judgement."
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