Woman jailed for driving four times over legal limit

Friday 06 November 2020

A 46-year-old woman has been sent to Les Nicolles after almost causing a collision at the Halfway Filter while four times over the drink drive limit.

Claire Cooper was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison and has been disqualified from driving for three-and-a-half years.

Police in a marked vehicle noticed Cooper driving a white Fiat along Vale Road at 6:10 in the morning of Friday 9 October. The vehicle was seen swerving into the wrong side of the road and Cooper was "braking unnecessarily" while travelling along at a low speed.

Cooper almost caused a collision as she went across the Halfway Filter and was pulled over by the police officers, who had followed her vehicle. Opening her driver's side door, they "immediately smelt intoxicants" and Cooper said she had drunk a bottle of wine and a pint of Guinness at the Randy Paddle the night before. 

The 46-year-old produced a reading of 144mcg per 100ml of breath - more than four times over the legal limit of 35mcg.

She had stopped drinking at around 01:00 and had got a few hours sleep before deciding to drive to her boat in the QEII Marina. Advocate Phoebe Cobb said her client had told her she "didn't feel she was over the limit", but clearly she was.

Pictured: Cooper was sentenced to 10 weeks in Les Nicolles Prison in the Magistrate's Court. 

Cooper had moved to the island to work as a nurse in November 2019 but became very homesick and quit her job in the spring, since when Advocate Cobb said she had been unable to return home, which she has every intention of doing.

Judge Graeme McKerrell said the seriousness of her driving offence could only be marked with a term of imprisonment. 

He said his hands were tied by the Hatwell sentencing guidelines used for breath readings that high, but added that even if he was not bound by those guidelines, he would still send Cooper to prison. 

"Anyone who goes in their car who is four time over the limit cannot expect anything other than immediate custody."

Noting her previous record, which contained offences relating to alcohol use but none to drink driving, Judge McKerrell sentenced Cooper to 10 weeks in prison.