Drug-driver royal violinist spared jail
A VIOLINIST who has played for the Queen was spared jail despite leaving a biker with devastating injuries in a drug-fuelled crash.
Victoria Yellop, 34, was high on cocaine when she drove her Mercedes into the motorcyclist’s path.
He suffered a fractured thigh, ribs and sternum and is in constant pain and unable to work, a court heard.
Yellop, who is already serving a two-year suspended sentence for staging a £25,000 fake burglary, sobbed as she heard how she had devastated the motorcyclist’s life.
Matthew Nickolls, defending, said she has not touched cocaine since the crash in Tonbridge, Kent, in May.
Yellop, who played solo at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations at Windsor in 2002, admitted drug-driving, which carries a maximum six-month jail sentence.
The crash happened before her suspended sentence for the bogus burglary.
In July, a court heard how her junkie lover bullied her into faking the burglary at a pal’s home.
On Monday she was given a four-month suspended sentence at Maidstone magistrates court for the drug offence. Banned for three years, she must pay £85 costs and a £115 victim surcharge.
District Judge Julie Moffatt told her: “With you I have someone who, through no fault of their own, has suffered quite considerably.
“With the victim, I also have someone who, through no fault of his own, has suffered considerably too.”