Daily Mail

Drink-driver whose trout pout lips were so fat she couldn’t blow breathalys­er

- By Richard Marsden

POLICE have to put up with all manner of ridiculous excuses from drink- drivers for not giving a breath test.

But the officers who questioned reality TV star Scarlett Harrison probably weren’t prepared for her defence – she said her surgically-enhanced lips were too big to get round the tube.

Beautician Harrison, 20, was found to be over the alcohol limit after managing to use a roadside breathalys­er.

But when she was taken to a police station and asked to provide further samples on an ‘ intoximete­r’, she insisted that her collagen implants made it impossible for her to get her mouth around the tube.

Harrison, who appeared in the MTV reality TV show Ex On The Beach, attempted to blow into the intoximete­r four times before telling officers: ‘My lips are too big.’

She was later charged with failing to provide a breath sample.

Harrison initially pleaded not guilty to the charge, claiming she had been unable to give a breath sample for ‘medical reasons’. But on the day of her trial at Manchester Magistrate­s’ Court she changed her plea to guilty and received a 16-month driving ban.

Magistrate­s described her behaviour as a ‘serious offence causing danger to the public’. Harrison, who lives with her mother and father, Dean, who runs an electrical engineerin­g business, at their £800,000 detached home in Bramhall, Cheshire, was spotted blocking a taxi rank in her Mini on a night out.

Police pulled up by her Mini near Manchester Piccadilly station on June 20 after she had a row with a male friend she had been drinking with.

Neil White, prosecutin­g, said: ‘Police saw the defendant parked by the taxi rank late at night and were wondering what was going on. When the officers went over to speak to her, they could smell alcohol on her breath and conducted a roadside breath test. She was over the limit, so she was taken to the police station. At the station, they informed her about going through to the intoximete­r room.

‘She tried to go through with it and attempted to blow four times. She told them she was anxious and nervous and when asked by the police officer if there was any reason why she couldn’t provide a sample, she said her lips were too big and she couldn’t blow into it.

‘They asked if she had any medical conditions or health conditions that could stop her doing so and she said, “No, just my lips”.

‘This has since been clarified and she was not able to give enough medical evidence, and it was as simple as that. She has a clean driving licence. She has pleaded guilty on the day of her trial.’ Matthew Wallace, defending, said: ‘She had gone into Manchester and admits to having a couple of pink gins. She had an argument with a male friend who decided to disappear in the city centre. ‘She got into her car and was planning on looking for him. ‘She pulled up in the taxi rank, which she did not appreciate was a problem at the time. She did blow a positive roadside sample and there were four further attempts made at the police station. She is somebody who has suffered with anxiety. This is clear on her medical records.

‘She has collagen implants in her lips, which is something that caused her difficulty in forming a seal around the tube.

‘She was also attacked a number of months ago by a person, and one side of her lip was damaged and has scar tissue which provided her further difficulty.

‘When she was in the intoximete­r room, they told her she needed to blow into the machine and she was feeling they were very abrupt. She was trying to provide a sample. She fully understand­s she should not drink and drive at all. She finds herself in this situation and she is very remorseful. The day after, her father put her car up for sale. It has been sold and she hasn’t been driving at all.’

Mr Wallace said Harrison, who has no job, was ‘remorseful and disappoint­ed in herself’.

At her court appearance on Wednesday, Harrison was also fined £160 and ordered to pay £150 towards court costs.

‘Causing danger to public’

 ??  ?? Banned: Beautician Scarlett Harrison, 20, outside court
Banned: Beautician Scarlett Harrison, 20, outside court
 ??  ?? Over limit: Harrison had gins
Over limit: Harrison had gins

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