CrimsonPhantom
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Serial Drunk Driver spared jail because she’s a woman
Quote:Victoria Parry, 30, crashed into three cars while overtaking before ending up in a ditch where her car set on fire near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, last May.
It was the third time she had been caught drink driving and was facing a possible prison sentence.
However, Judge Sarah Buckingham said: ‘If Miss Parry was a man, there is no question it would have been straight down the stairs, because this is a shocking case of dangerous driving against a background of two previous convictions for excess alcohol.
‘But this offence was committed in May 2018 and she has not been in trouble since. She has clearly got an alcohol problem. She is, whether she admits it or not, an alcoholic.’
She added: ‘You richly deserve an immediate custodial sentence of 18 months. I want to see whether you can really address the issues rather than paying lip service.
‘If you succeed, I will not make the custody immediate. If you don’t comply, I will conclude that you are not worthy of the chance.’
Prosecutor Tim Sapwell said: ‘Her driving was such that she caught the rear bumper of a van, and she next hit the wing mirror of a Vauxhall Insignia, and then the side of a BMW very heavily.
‘She hit it with such force that the BMW’s rear wheel was knocked off and the car was written off.
‘It caused her Fiat to spin in the road and go down the embankment into a wooded area where it caught fire.’
Other drivers rushed to her aid, including an off-duty police inspector who released her from her seat belt and pulled her out of the burning car.
He noticed she smelled of alcohol, and Parry told him that she had had a bottle of wine, telling him: ‘I shouldn’t be driving.’
The court heard Parry had been banned from driving for three years in July 2015 for her second excess alcohol offence.
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The judge is being investigated by judicial authorities over what she said and sentencing she issued.
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04-12-2019 04:03 PM |
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