I wasn’t drunk ... I was limping!
Socialite is cleared over claim she had wine binge while looking after child
A RUSSIAN socialite accused of being drunk in charge of a child has had her conviction quashed after claiming police mistook her limp for a sign of inebriation.
Nicole Ovchinnikova, 37, who is said to be a friend of Kate Moss and Paris Hilton, had arrived at the Britannia International Hotel in east London in March with the child and a friend.
Prosecutors said she began bingeing on wine and champagne at the Canary Wharf hotel in the early evening with the child in tow – and was still going strong the follow-
‘Colleagues laugh at how I walk’
ing morning. A manager said Miss Ovchinnikova could not walk or talk properly when he saw her in the lobby the next day, and another witness said he thought the child had been kept up all night.
But the former model said she had a limp after breaking her ankle last year, and left the witness box to demonstrate her gait at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
She told the appeal panel of one judge and two magistrates: ‘My colleagues laugh at the way I walk.’
Earlier, Zarif Khan, defending, had quizzed PC Louise Wright on her assessment of Miss Ovchinnikova’s state.
He said: ‘Did you notice she had a slight limp or drag in her left foot? I’m going to suggest her gait was slightly off.’
Miss Wright replied: ‘It was. To me she appeared drunk.’ The appeal also heard that she could have picked up her friend’s drink accidentally the next morning, which may have triggered a reaction to the antibiotics she was taking.
Mr Khan said: ‘This could have been where the adverse effects come from and her reaction to the police.
‘We don’t have a breathalyser reading and there is no threshold for drunkenness in charge of a child.
‘There are numerous holes and inconsistencies in the prosecution case and can’t be relied on.’
Returning the verdict, Judge Roger Stewart QC said: ‘Our duty is to convict only if we are sure that the defendant is guilty with all the evidence taken as a whole.
‘We are not satisfied that the defendant was drunk in charge of a child.’
Miss Ovchinnikova was originally handed a £500 fine in August over the case.