Jailed, mother on cocaine who hit cyclist while she drove kids home
A SINGLE mother high on cocaine mowed down a cyclist while driving her two children home.
Emily Brown, 32, said she had taken the drug 48 hours earlier to cope with the sixth anniversary of the deaths of her premature twin babies.
Test results, however, suggested she may have taken the Class A substance as little as 12 hours before the crash, which left lorry driver Stuart Crowther with a fractured skull. Analysis showed that Brown had 332 milligrams of cocaine in 100 millilitres of blood – almost seven times the legal limit of 50mg.
Brown, a lettings agency worker, wept in the dock as she was jailed for 12 months after admitting drug-driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. She was also banned from driving for four-and-a-half years.
She was not wearing her glasses – a requirement of her driving licence – when her VW Golf hit Mr Crowther at 25mph last October in Oldham.
Brown said she was distracted by one of her daughters, aged five and 13, trying to turn on the car radio on their way home from a restaurant. The children are not yet aware of her conviction, Mancant chester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
Judge Bernadette Baxter told Brown she needed ‘to face your responsibilities as a mother’. She added: ‘I am fully aware you have suffered a bereavement but you are responsible for your children and they are not responsible for your actions. There was signifi- risk to life by your own driving. [Mr Crowther] has suffered life- changing injuries.’
Brown’s 58- year- old victim, wearing reflective clothing but no safety helmet, was thrown over the windscreen and roof of her car.
Mr Crowther spent three weeks in hospital, where he suffered a number of seizures and was admitted to intensive care with injuries to his brain and shoulder, as well as a fractured skull and ankle.
Ten months on he still suffers from dizziness and concentration problems and has not been able to return to work. He will have to reapply for his HGV licence.
Prosecutor Simon Blakebrough said: ‘Mr Crowther was cycling home from work. He had just started cycling from a road junction when he was struck from behind – he was not travelling fast and he was clearly visible to oncoming drivers. [Brown]
‘Face up to your responsibilities’
had failed to have regard for obvious road users, had drugs in her system and was not wearing her glasses as instructed.’
Rachel Shenton, defending, said: ‘She feels utmost regret for what has happened.
‘She genuinely believed that she was safe and she would never have driven, not just for the safety of her children but for the safety of others, if she had [not] believed so.’