Enniskillen Magistrates Court
A 63-year-old woman drove over 90 miles across the North earlier this month while almost four times over the legal drive limit, Enniskillen Magistrates Court has heard.
Isabel Thompson of Lord Warrens Meadow in Bangor appeared in court on Monday to face a charge of driving with excess alcohol.
The court heard that at 5pm on April 2nd, police received a report of a suspected drink driver on the Tummery Road in Irvinestown after a white Seat Ibiza was observed veering onto a grass verge and across the white line. Twenty minutes later, officers located the car parked in a lay-by and Thompson was found slumped in the driver’s seat. The keys were in the ignition but the engine was switched off.
Police noted a strong smell of alcohol from her and that the defendant’s speech was slurred, her eyes were glazed and she had a droopy face complexion. Thompson failed a roadside breath test and was conveyed to Omagh Police Station where she returned an evidential breath reading of 120mg, some 85mg over the limit.
Thompson was cautioned for drink driving and replied: “Ok”.
District Judge Nigel Broderick was told that Thompson had driven all the way from her home in Co. Down after consuming a few drinks of vodka in home measures, until her detection after driving through Fintona and Dromore. It was also disclosed that she had been stopped on St Patrick’s Day for a similar incident.
Defence barrister Ciaran Roddy said his client, a full-time office manager, had been travelling to visit her 97-year-old mother, who lives in the vicinity, when she was detected. He added: “She accepts that what she did was entirely unacceptable and that she has to be punished. She has a problem and needs help but fully intends to address this. Her difficulties began after the death of her husband eleven years ago. She doesn’t expect to be on the road anytime soon.”
Addressing Thompson, the judge said: “It beggars belief that you drove so far while being so intoxicated. You drove for up to 90 miles while over three times the legal limit. How you managed to avoid an accident no-one will ever know.”
Noting that this was the defendant’s third conviction for this offence, the judge imposed a five month prison sentence, suspended for three years. Thompson was also banned from driving for five years.
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