Custodial sentence likelihood

[ascott1988]

Hi

I stupidly drove back from a night out with friends 2 days ago after drinking. It was a short journey of around half a mile at midnight.

I was alone & hit a parked car on the journey, no one was injured, the police arrived & breathalysed me & my score was 100, I was taken to hospital as the airbags deployed despite there being no injuries. Bloods were taken approximately 4 hours later due to delays at the hospital.

This is my first offence of any kind & I complied with the police throughout the process on the night. I’m extremely remorseful & will be giving up alcohol (infrequent drinker anyway).

My main concern is a custodial sentence, I can manage a driving ban & fortunately work close to home most of the time.

Assuming the blood alcohol level is in line with or lower than the breathalyser reading, how likely is a custodial sentence & are there any steps I can take between now & the court date to minimise the risk?

Thanks

 

[Martin Hammond]

Good morning,

It is hard to say what is going to happen as it is lagly based upon the reading and at present we do not know what that will be. The roadside tests are notouriously unreliable so you cannot rely on the 100 reading.

That said even at that reading with an accident, a suspended prison sentence with community punishment is far more likely than a straight custodial sentence.

In terms of things you can do that cost nothing, you should prepare a statement including all the things that you can remeber in as much detail as you can remember and send off your own blood sample for testing if you have a sample.

The other thing is to hire a lawyer and ask for the bodyworn camera footage to be retained. They are sometimes deleted and they can be very useful so it is advantagous to request that they be retained.

Also if you have not been interviewed I would strongly advise you to take a good lawyer with you should the police wish to question you.

Kind regards
Martin.