Ipswich Woman Jailed for Drink Driving

An Ipswich woman has been jailed for driving with more than five times the legal amount of alcohol in her breath.

Harriet Eade, 28, of Thurleston Lane, Ipswich, admitted driving a motor vehicle when the amount of alcohol in her breath exceeded the prescribed limit when she appeared remotely at Ipswich Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, 27th October 2020.

This is an offence contrary to section 5(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and has a maximum penalty of 26 weeks' custody and/or a fine at level 5 (unlimited) on summary conviction.

Lesla Small, prosecuting, outlined the circumstances of the offence to Magistrates.

She said that at 10.30 am on Monday, 26th October 2020 police responded to reports of a Volkswagen Golf being driven poorly on the A14 across Orwell Bridge.

The police saw the car travelling on the opposite carriageway, so turned around to follow it. A short time later officers saw the vehicle stationary in the road with broken glass nearby indicating it had been involved in a collision. The driver, now identified as Eade, was about to leave the scene when the police car pulled alongside.

Suspecting Eade of being under the influence of alcohol, the police required her to take a roadside breath test which she failed. She was arrested and taken to the police station, where she provided an evidential specimen of breath containing 183 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the prescribed limit being 35 microgrammes.

Such a reading is phenomenally high and suggests that Eade's ability to drive was seriously impaired.

Magistrates were told that this latest offence put Eade in breach of a suspended sentence order imposed by Buckinghamshire Magistrates' Court on 18th February 2020.

Joanna Paton, defending, said: "She realises that it was an incredibly high reading but she is a young woman of 28, so that poses the question, 'what is going on with her?'

"She suffers with depression and takes medication but admits that she ran out a couple of weeks ago and has not yet ordered more.

"She lost her job as a result of the conviction in February and moved back in with her father.

"She knows that she needs to get her medication back on track for her depression."

Magistrates determined that the offence was so serious that only a custodial sentence was appropriate. They also decided to activate her suspended sentence order in full.

Eade was sentenced to 14 weeks' custody for driving with excess alcohol to run consecutively to the 26 weeks' custody from her suspended sentence.

She was also disqualified from driving for 5 years and ordered to pay £85 towards prosecution costs and £128 victim surcharge.