Move to Spain results in five-year court delay (From Craven Herald)

Move to Spain results in five-year court delay

10:29am Thursday 30th August 2012 in News

Five years after being involved in a drunken row with her family and followed by a sojourn in Spain, Allie Winslade faced her day in court accused of being in charge of a vehicle when above the alcohol limit.

The 43-year-old appeared in court in Skipton to admit to the offence which happened in Calton Lane, Airton, on April 1, 2007, when her step-father was celebrating his 60th birthday.

Magistrates were told that she had failed to attend for the first hearing and then went to live in Spain with her family and was arrested upon her return to the UK.

The incident sprang from an horrendous family row in which her car keys were taken from her because of her drunken state and the police called.

When arrested on suspicion of drink driving she began screaming and became abusive to such an extent she had to be put in the caged area of the police vehicle.

The Bench was told that police were alerted to a disturbance at 2.30am and when they arrived at the address found Winslade hysterical and in a drunken state.

From enquiries, officers understood that there had been a row and Winslade wanted to drive home and the family had tried to persuade her not to. The engine had been running and someone removed the ignition keys.

A breath test revealed she had 65 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit is 35.

Magistrates were told that, Winslade, a single parent with three children living at River View, Ilkley, thought that the initial charge of being over the drink-driving limit had been dropped because of no evidence and she had gone to live in Spain with her family.

When she returned to the UK and learned the police still wanted to question her, she immediately surrendered herself and was sentenced to a community order, later changed to a fine, for that offence.

There had been a family row and she had been thrown out of the house and had climbed into her car to get a blanket to keep warm. She believed she had nudged the hand brake and the car had moved forward into the back of another vehicle.

“When the police found her she was sitting on the doorstep crying. She was adamant she didn’t have the car keys in her possession and didn’t intend to drive,” the Bench was told.

She was fined £70, ordered to pay £100 court costs , a £15 victim surcharge and her licence was endorsed with ten penalty points.