Twice the limit - absolute discharge!!!
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WHAT THE ACTUAL f
k.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4334674/Mo...
k.Article said:
A cosmetic surgery boss caught drink driving has escaped a ban after insisting she did not realise there was vodka in her breakfast orange juice.
Michelle Butterworth, 37, said she was getting ready for work the morning after a leaving party when she drank from a glass on her kitchen top. She then crashed her Renault Clio into another car at a pedestrian crossing at 8.40am and was found to be almost twice the legal limit.
She said that, after returning home from the police station, she discovered the orange juice she had drunk that morning had been left out from the previous night's party and contained vodka.
At Manchester magistrates court this week, Butterworth, who runs her own practice giving anti-wrinkle injections, dermal fillers and lip enhancements in Salford, admitted drink driving. But she was handed an absolute discharge and avoided a disqualification after magistrates said they were 'special reasons' not to ban her from the roads.
The incident occurred last November after law graduate Butterworth threw a party to mark her moving to Harbourne in Birmingham.
She told the court: 'The night before we had been packing up boxes as I was due to leave Manchester and move to Birmingham and so I cooked a chilli and some drinks with friends at my house.
'I had three large glasses of white wine and I stopped drinking at around 9.30 or 10pm that night. I had work the next day and I am injecting people's faces so I couldn't be feeling rough my mind has to be clear.'
She added: 'Two of my friends were there and my son and three of his friends. My son was drinking too as he was having a leaving party kind of thing. When I woke up the next morning I felt absolutely fine. I got up and showered and put on my hospital scrubs. There was a glass of orange juice on the side and it was in a pint glass. I didn't know there was alcohol inside the orange juice - I have had two operations on my nose so my taste and sense of smell. I loaded up my car up and drove to work. I was taking two passengers to the Trafford Centre and was turning to speak to them to see where they wanted dropping off and that's when I went into the back of the car. I couldn't get my head round it all so when I get home I discussed it with my son and I had drunk the orange juice and that is when the penny dropped.'
Her son Lewis Woods, 19, said: 'I was having a few drinks with my friends because we were moving to Birmingham.
'I poured the juice I remembered that my friend doesn't like orange juice with bits in it so I ended up just leaving it on the side and we called it a night. I think I must have poured around four shots of vodka into the pint glass.'
But prosecutor Marion Nolan told the court: 'The police officer who saw Mrs Butterworth at the station said her eyes were glazed over and that she smelt of alcohol.
'The expert evidence does not agree with her version of events; he says it does not add up. He says the vodka she drunk still wouldn't account for the volume of alcohol found in her breath.'
Defence lawyer Paul Shepherd told JPs. 'You've heard all the evidence in this case and it is for you to decide whether Ms Butterworth was knowingly over the drink drive limit when she left her house to go to work that morning or if you can apply special reasons to this case on the basis of a spiked drink argument.'
Butterworth was told by a magistrate: 'The evidence of yourself and your son was clear and consistent. We fine on the basis of a spiked drink argument, special reasons apply and it would not be suitable for us to disqualify you from driving.'
Link:Michelle Butterworth, 37, said she was getting ready for work the morning after a leaving party when she drank from a glass on her kitchen top. She then crashed her Renault Clio into another car at a pedestrian crossing at 8.40am and was found to be almost twice the legal limit.
She said that, after returning home from the police station, she discovered the orange juice she had drunk that morning had been left out from the previous night's party and contained vodka.
At Manchester magistrates court this week, Butterworth, who runs her own practice giving anti-wrinkle injections, dermal fillers and lip enhancements in Salford, admitted drink driving. But she was handed an absolute discharge and avoided a disqualification after magistrates said they were 'special reasons' not to ban her from the roads.
The incident occurred last November after law graduate Butterworth threw a party to mark her moving to Harbourne in Birmingham.
She told the court: 'The night before we had been packing up boxes as I was due to leave Manchester and move to Birmingham and so I cooked a chilli and some drinks with friends at my house.
'I had three large glasses of white wine and I stopped drinking at around 9.30 or 10pm that night. I had work the next day and I am injecting people's faces so I couldn't be feeling rough my mind has to be clear.'
She added: 'Two of my friends were there and my son and three of his friends. My son was drinking too as he was having a leaving party kind of thing. When I woke up the next morning I felt absolutely fine. I got up and showered and put on my hospital scrubs. There was a glass of orange juice on the side and it was in a pint glass. I didn't know there was alcohol inside the orange juice - I have had two operations on my nose so my taste and sense of smell. I loaded up my car up and drove to work. I was taking two passengers to the Trafford Centre and was turning to speak to them to see where they wanted dropping off and that's when I went into the back of the car. I couldn't get my head round it all so when I get home I discussed it with my son and I had drunk the orange juice and that is when the penny dropped.'
Her son Lewis Woods, 19, said: 'I was having a few drinks with my friends because we were moving to Birmingham.
'I poured the juice I remembered that my friend doesn't like orange juice with bits in it so I ended up just leaving it on the side and we called it a night. I think I must have poured around four shots of vodka into the pint glass.'
But prosecutor Marion Nolan told the court: 'The police officer who saw Mrs Butterworth at the station said her eyes were glazed over and that she smelt of alcohol.
'The expert evidence does not agree with her version of events; he says it does not add up. He says the vodka she drunk still wouldn't account for the volume of alcohol found in her breath.'
Defence lawyer Paul Shepherd told JPs. 'You've heard all the evidence in this case and it is for you to decide whether Ms Butterworth was knowingly over the drink drive limit when she left her house to go to work that morning or if you can apply special reasons to this case on the basis of a spiked drink argument.'
Butterworth was told by a magistrate: 'The evidence of yourself and your son was clear and consistent. We fine on the basis of a spiked drink argument, special reasons apply and it would not be suitable for us to disqualify you from driving.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4334674/Mo...
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