Alan Carr’s drink-driving estranged husband jailed after hitting a police car
AlAN Carr’s estranged husband has been jailed after he drunkenly reversed into a police car.
Paul Drayton, 50, was told he had been ‘dicing with death’ when he got behind the wheel of his car while nearly five times over the legal drink-drive limit.
The actor was seen swerving from side to side as police pursued him near the £2.7million West Sussex home he shared with comedian Carr last October. He then backed into a police car and narrowly missed a mother pushing a pram.
The sentencing came days after Drayton, who has battled alcoholism, announced his split from 45-year-old Carr. The couple, who have been together for 13 years, were married by Adele in her los Angeles garden in 2018.
Appearing at Brighton Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Drayton was told he was so drunk on the day that his breath alcohol reading was ‘off the scale’. Although he had initially denied the charge of driving while over the alcohol limit, he later pleaded guilty at a hearing in November.
Prosecutor Suzanne Soros told the court that a worried member of the public had called police when they spotted Drayton drunk at a Coop store in Broadbridge Heath near Horsham.
When they saw him drive away from the supermarket and narrowly miss a woman pushing a pram, they called the police again.
When officers signalled for him to pull over, he stopped and reversed into their car.
He returned a breathalyser reading of 153 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – more than four times over the legal limit of 35.
John Dye, representing Drayton, said he had been suffering a ‘perfect storm in his life’. He had been dealing with alcohol and mental health issues, had had to have a brain operation
‘Perfect storm in his life’
and had been injured when falling from a horse, Mr Dye told the court.
Adding that Drayton was ‘absolutely petrified’ of going to prison, Mr Dye said that ‘the final straw’ had been the breakdown of his marriage ‘partly because of the problems that Drayton has’.
Sentencing him, Judge Amanda Kelly acknowledged his alcohol issues and the effect his marriage breakdown had had on him.
But she continued: ‘You were dicing with death when you got behind the wheel in that state. Not only were you gambling with your own life but you were gambling with the lives of others.’
Drayton was jailed for 14 weeks and banned from driving for three years.