Drunk girl took lover’s BMW to avoid ‘walk of shame’ af ter one-night stand
DESPERATE to avoid a humiliating ‘walk of shame’ after a onenight stand, Natalie Kopman hit upon a cunning plan.
Rather than face the embarrassment of tottering off to a taxi rank – with onlookers clearly realising she hadn’t been altogether saintly – she decided to borrow her lover’s BMW.
She grabbed the keys and, careful not to wake Alan Shaw, she sneaked out of his flat and behind the wheel of his car.
She headed off but got hopelessly lost and was apprehended by police when the angry Mr Shaw discovered his prized motor was missing. When officers arrested 31-year-old Kopman on the forecourt of a petrol station they found she was almost three times the drink-drive limit.
Yesterday she pleaded guilty to taking a vehicle without consent, drink-driving and having no insurance.
She was given an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and disqualified from driving for two years. She was also ordered to pay £165 costs.
Burnley Magistrates’ Court was told Kopman and Mr Shaw had met at a bar in Manchester in January last year.
They hit it off so well they went back to his flat and after spending the night together they spent the following day drinking again before falling asleep.
But at around 4am Kopman woke up and decided she wanted to leave the flat in Stockport and go back to her own bed in Bury, 30 miles away.
Tracy Yates, prosecuting, said: ‘ She saw the keys on the sofa and said that if she asked he would have declined, so snuck out of the premises in possession of the keys and drove back to Manchester before meeting two other people and
‘When sober she is a bright young woman’
subsequently driving from Manchester to Burnley. She is adamant she would have returned the car.’
The court heard that when she sobered up, Kopman told police: ‘It must have been a big shock for him to wake up and see his car was taken.’
Ellen Vaughan, defending, said: ‘ She got incredibly drunk, went back to a virtual stranger’s house, ended up spending the night and the following day in a drunken haze with him and woke up in the small hours and thought, “I will borrow his car”.
‘There is no nefarious reason for her to take the car other than she didn’t want to be where she had woken up. She more or less certainly would not have behaved this way had she been sober. When sober she is a bright, intelligent, articulate young woman who could make plenty of her life.
‘Last year while in drink she climbed a tree and fell out, breaking vertebrae in her back. But she is optimistic she will return to work.’
Police who breathalysed her at the scene took a reading of 98 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.
Magistrate Lynn Kemp said: ‘There was potential for absolute disaster during that drive to yourself and others. This might be the big wake-up call you need.’