A Wiltshire driver has been jailed for colliding with a teenage biker and leaving him for dead on the roadside.
Paula Stanford, 54, of Denison Rise, Salisbury, admitted charges of failing to stop at an accident, driving without due care and attention and failing to provide a specimen for analysis when she appeared at Salisbury Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, 4th January 2022.
She was sentenced at the same court on Thursday, 3rd February 2022.
Magistrates heard that the collision took place when Stanford was driving a Vauxhall Astra on the city's St Mark's Avenue on the night of Friday, 6th August 2021.
The 16-year-old was riding a dirt bike along the residential street when Stanford's vehicle swerved onto the wrong side of the road and struck him.
The teenager was left with extensive injuries including a collapsed lung and fractured wrist. He also suffered a cardiac arrest.
Stamford continued driving, but a witness took note of the details of her vehicle.
A trail of oil and debris led police to Stanford's home address and collision-damaged vehicle, but she denied being behind the wheel. She also denied any knowledge of damage to the Astra.
Officers knocked on the front door and Stanford, who appeared to be intoxicated, was "abusive and unpleasant" towards them.
Suspecting her to have been driving the vehicle at the time of the collision, the officers required her to undergo a roadside breath test. That preliminary test gave a reading of 111 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, so she was arrested and taken to Melksham Police Station for an evidential specimen to be obtained.
Stanford refused to provide the evidential specimen, so was further arrested for that offence.
Charles Nightingale, prosecuting at the sentencing hearing, told Magistrates that the teenager had been in the process of joining the Army as an infantryman, but he has now been deemed medically unfit.
Mr Nightingale added: "This is a significant impact on a young person just driving home from seeing his friend."
William Griffiths, mitigating, read a letter by Stanford to the court.
In it, she said she was "horrified" when the charges were read to her and "couldn't believe" what she had done. She added that the incident made her "feel sick" and she hoped that the teenager could "forgive my selfish actions".
Mr Griffiths said that his client had sought help for her alcohol use from Turning Point.
Alix Smith, Presiding Justice, said that the incident was not just an act of careless driving and the defendant had "knocked an innocent young man" from his bike, as well as "deliberately failing to stop and check on the victim, lying to police about driving and refusing to provide a specimen at the police station."
Magistrates were of the opinion that the offences, when considered in totality, were so serious that only a custodial sentence was appropriate.
Stanford was sentenced to 18 weeks' immediate custody.
She was also disqualified from driving for a period of 36 months and ordered to pay £85 towards prosecution costs and £128 sucharge.
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