Vodka shame of JP’s wife slumped at wheel of car
THE wife of a former mag- istrate downed a bottle of vodka ‘in one go’ after being made redundant – then attempted to drive home.
Anna Wiles, 54, who had lost her job as an administrator at a care home, was found slumped in the driver’s seat of her Mini convertible.
A passer-by, who had seen the car weaving along the street moments earlier, feared the driver may have had a stroke or heart attack, and called an ambulance.
But Wiles, the mother of two grown-up daughters, was in fact found to be nearly four times over the drink-drive limit.
Appearing at Manchester Magistrates’ Court, Wiles admitted drink driving. She was given an eight-week prison sentence suspended for a year, and banned from driving for three years. Her self- employed husband Richard, 56, who sat as a JP for seven years, watched from the public gallery.
Chairman of the bench Phillip Greene told Wiles: ‘Your alcohol reading was very, very high and it is fortunate no one came to any harm, including yourself.’
Wiles, a former company buyer, had admitted draining a small bottle of vodka, containing the equivalent of eight 25ml shots, in ‘one go’ after learning she was being made redundant last month. She bought the vodka from a local shop before setting off home.
Tina Cunnane, prosecuting, said: ‘The defendant was spotted by an independent witness who spotted her weaving in her lane. She was concerned about her driving and the defendant then stopped in the road.
‘The witness approached the car and saw the defendant slumped in the driver’s seat with her head back and her mouth open.
‘She was concerned that she had suffered a stroke or heart attack. When the paramedics attended, they called the police.
‘ The police arrived and the defendant’s husband arrived and indicated that she was intoxicated. She was arrested and taken to the police station.’
The court was read a report from a probation officer who interviewed Wiles and found her to be ‘very sorry for what happened’.
The officer said: ‘She tells me that she had quite an emotional conversation with her husband the night before. On January 10, she found out that she was being made redundant.
‘She then made the foolish decision – and she acknowledges that – to buy a quarter-bottle of vodka and consume that in one go.’
Wiles, who now attends a support unit for alcoholics on a daily basis, was also ordered to pay £200 in costs and surcharges.