Soap Star's Breath Test 'Flawed'
Discussion
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/3207933.stm
Soap star's breath test 'flawed'
The machine used to breath test EastEnders actress Elaine Lordan could have given a false reading, a forensic scientist has told a court.
Dr David Trafford said the reading could have been based not on her deep lung breath but on alcohol that was present in her mouth.
Dr Trafford was giving evidence at St Albans Magistrates' Court where the actress, who plays Lynne Hobbs in the BBC soap, denies a charge of drinking and driving in July 2001.
At a resumed hearing on Thursday, Dr Trafford, a chemist and biologist and a leading authority on breath test machines, told the court that if mouth alcohol is present when a person gives a breath sample, intoximeters can record false high readings.
Ms Lordan, 37, of Highbury, north London, was one and a half times over the permitted limit after driving from Borehamwood studios late on the night of 3 July to collect her boyfriend, Peter Manuel.
He had crashed his Renault Megane nearby on the A1 Barnet bypass.
After arriving to collect him in her Audi, police who arrived on the scene smelled alcohol on her breath.
After a positive breath test she was taken to Borehamwood Police Station where a breath test revealed that she had 51 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of breath - 16mg above the legal limit.
Miss Lordan, giving evidence earlier, told how she had drunk five single vodkas with a dash of soda that evening.
She said she began panicking when Mr Manuel rang.
"I started to get heartburn and had a horrible taste in my mouth. I got straight in my car and went to Peter."
She agreed that at first she and Mr Manuel had lied to officers at the scene, saying the Renault belonged to someone else, because their affair was secret.
Dr Trafford said he tested the intoximeter machine with no alcohol in his breath, he got two zero readings, which was expected.
Vodka solution
When he rinsed out his mouth with a vodka solution, he got a reading twice the legal limit to drive.
He said it showed that the machine was faulty because mouth alcohol should have been detected.
He said that a number of tests by him and colleagues led them to the conclusion that the intoximeter machine was unable to detect if mouth alcohol was present in someone's mouth at the time of a test.
He said he also found the machine settings had been altered on a number of occasions, which was very unusual.
Dr Trafford then told the court that reflux or regurgitation of alcohol could give a "falsely high reading".
The hearing continues.
Soap star's breath test 'flawed'
The machine used to breath test EastEnders actress Elaine Lordan could have given a false reading, a forensic scientist has told a court.
Dr David Trafford said the reading could have been based not on her deep lung breath but on alcohol that was present in her mouth.
Dr Trafford was giving evidence at St Albans Magistrates' Court where the actress, who plays Lynne Hobbs in the BBC soap, denies a charge of drinking and driving in July 2001.
At a resumed hearing on Thursday, Dr Trafford, a chemist and biologist and a leading authority on breath test machines, told the court that if mouth alcohol is present when a person gives a breath sample, intoximeters can record false high readings.
Ms Lordan, 37, of Highbury, north London, was one and a half times over the permitted limit after driving from Borehamwood studios late on the night of 3 July to collect her boyfriend, Peter Manuel.
He had crashed his Renault Megane nearby on the A1 Barnet bypass.
After arriving to collect him in her Audi, police who arrived on the scene smelled alcohol on her breath.
After a positive breath test she was taken to Borehamwood Police Station where a breath test revealed that she had 51 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of breath - 16mg above the legal limit.
Miss Lordan, giving evidence earlier, told how she had drunk five single vodkas with a dash of soda that evening.
She said she began panicking when Mr Manuel rang.
"I started to get heartburn and had a horrible taste in my mouth. I got straight in my car and went to Peter."
She agreed that at first she and Mr Manuel had lied to officers at the scene, saying the Renault belonged to someone else, because their affair was secret.
Dr Trafford said he tested the intoximeter machine with no alcohol in his breath, he got two zero readings, which was expected.
Vodka solution
When he rinsed out his mouth with a vodka solution, he got a reading twice the legal limit to drive.
He said it showed that the machine was faulty because mouth alcohol should have been detected.
He said that a number of tests by him and colleagues led them to the conclusion that the intoximeter machine was unable to detect if mouth alcohol was present in someone's mouth at the time of a test.
He said he also found the machine settings had been altered on a number of occasions, which was very unusual.
Dr Trafford then told the court that reflux or regurgitation of alcohol could give a "falsely high reading".
The hearing continues.
Well lets see if she wins. After all she has admitted to drinking 5 shots of Vodka.
At worst case they could ask her to drink 5 shots of Vodka and then take another breath test to prove the likelyhood (or not) of her being over the limit at the time
.
Anyway, I thought they were supposed to do a followup blood test to confirm the exact amount of alcohol?
At worst case they could ask her to drink 5 shots of Vodka and then take another breath test to prove the likelyhood (or not) of her being over the limit at the time
. Anyway, I thought they were supposed to do a followup blood test to confirm the exact amount of alcohol?
Here is the story
ananova said:
EastEnders actress banned for drink driving
EastEnders actress Elaine Lordan has been convicted of drink driving and banned from the roads for a year.
The 36-year-old actress, who plays Lynne Slater in the BBC1 soap, was fined £750 by magistrates in St Albans and ordered to pay £2,500 costs. She had denied the offence.
Lordan was arrested in July 2001 on the A1 near Barnet, north London.
Breathalyser tests showed she had 51mg of alcohol in her breath. The legal limit is 35mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.
Lordan was arrested after driving to pick up her boyfriend Peter Manuel who had been involved in a collision on the A1.
She admitted to the court that she had been drinking at the BBC's Elstree Studios between 9.30pm and 11.30pm.
The court was told that she had drunk five single vodkas with a splash of soda.
Nick Freeman, defending, told the court that the high levels of alcohol were caused by a heartburn condition suffered by the actress.
After the hearing Lordan fled the court room in tears and was driven away by her boyfriend without speaking to waiting reporters.
That Nick Freeman is a smug git
Ive experienced his "defence" at skipton where a rich sod was using him to get him off.
He defends all the manchester footballers and some of the Leeds guys. Remember the "medical emergency" use of the hard shoulder by Fergusson - just cos the traffic was heavy?
Solicitor to the rich and famous and should not be able to sleep (but for the fact his bed will be worth more than my house!)
Good to see his bulls--t excuses are beginning to fail.
Rant over - feel better now
Ive experienced his "defence" at skipton where a rich sod was using him to get him off.
He defends all the manchester footballers and some of the Leeds guys. Remember the "medical emergency" use of the hard shoulder by Fergusson - just cos the traffic was heavy?
Solicitor to the rich and famous and should not be able to sleep (but for the fact his bed will be worth more than my house!)
Good to see his bulls--t excuses are beginning to fail.
Rant over - feel better now
centurion07 said:
Wouldn't 5 vodkas put you over the limit anyways?
That's what I thought. I thought it a bit odd that she was admitting to that whilst trying to get off the charge...
I guess she must have been so convinced that the technicality would have it thrown out of court that she ought to tell the truth on the rest of the story.
The best lies being mostly true and all that.
I once had a colleague who testified that his patient was correct in refusing a breathalyser sample. He argued that she could not be expected to give a breathalyser sample at the side of the road because she was asthmatic and was worried if may give her an asthma attack.
I was absolutely disgusted when the judge accepted his arguement and she got off scott free. I refused to talk to my colleague for a week, and stopped calling him friend when he showed me the case of fine wine the solictor bought him as a 'thank you' in addition to his fee.
Moral of this story is that there are few people who will not say anything in court that they are paid to. So called professionals are no exception.
I was absolutely disgusted when the judge accepted his arguement and she got off scott free. I refused to talk to my colleague for a week, and stopped calling him friend when he showed me the case of fine wine the solictor bought him as a 'thank you' in addition to his fee.
Moral of this story is that there are few people who will not say anything in court that they are paid to. So called professionals are no exception.
I've found doctors in casualty depts very cooperative when asked if a driver is fit to provide a specimen of blood. I've always assumed that this is due to the fact that they have to deal with the carnage these people cause. I remember before they brought in the Road Safety Act, one of the best bits of legislation for saving life an injury ever. And the courts did everything they could to make it unworkable.
Then someone in the City Police bagged and got convicted a senior reporter on the Daily Express and, in one of those spooky coincidences, from that day on the editorial policy was anti the legislation. It's thanks to them that if the reading on the substantive breath test machine is over the limit but not by much then the police have to offer a blood test, which costs taxpayers - me as well as you - thousands of pounds a year. Five years after this was heralded as a victory for justice by the paper, I did some research in my local forces and found that not one blood test had come back with a lower score than the beath test.
All that time and money wasted. Thank you, Express.
Then someone in the City Police bagged and got convicted a senior reporter on the Daily Express and, in one of those spooky coincidences, from that day on the editorial policy was anti the legislation. It's thanks to them that if the reading on the substantive breath test machine is over the limit but not by much then the police have to offer a blood test, which costs taxpayers - me as well as you - thousands of pounds a year. Five years after this was heralded as a victory for justice by the paper, I did some research in my local forces and found that not one blood test had come back with a lower score than the beath test.
All that time and money wasted. Thank you, Express.
ananova said:
Nick Freeman, defending, told the court that the high levels of alcohol were caused by a heartburn condition suffered by the actress.
Err, I think you'll find it was actually actually caused by downing five vodkas.
Easily proved though, guzzle a few vindaloos, and if the resulting indigestion problems show up as a false positive on a breathaliser...
XM5ER said:Or the later Monica Lewinski excuse of "I didn't IMPALE". When asked whether his affair with Jennifer Flowers was the same as that with Monica, Clinton is reputed to have replied, "Close, but no cigar!" (apols for hijacking) - Streaky
Mouth alcohol, after 5 vodkas? Hmmm.. thats almost as bad as Bill Clintons "didnt inhale" excuse.
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