Hatherleigh woman crashed after Okehampton drinking spree

A serious accident was caused when a woman tried to drive home after a lengthy drinking spree, a court heard.

Rachel Knight went to several pubs in Okehampton with the intention of asking her daughter to drive her home. But when she arrived with two men in tow at the Waitrose store in Okehampton where her daughter worked, the younger woman refused to drive them.

Exeter Magistrates' Court heard yesterday that Knight, 40, tried to call her daughter, who had set off on foot to the family home.

Prosecutor Lyndsey Baker said: "Her daughter came out of the supermarket to see one of the men sitting on the bonnet of the car and the other standing nearby. She did not like the look of them and told her mother she was not prepared to get in the car with two strange men."

Knight had promised both a lift to Hatherleigh, where she lived. She got in the car and headed towards Hatherleigh. After catching up with her daughter and remonstrating with her through the car window, Knight drove off in the direction of the village.

At 8.27pm on April 22 police were called to the scene of an accident. Knight's car had come off the road and hit a tree. She suffered severe leg and arm injuries and one of the men suffered serious head and leg injuries. Both were taken to the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital.

Ms Baker said doctors were not able to take a blood sample from Knight for five hours after the accident, but she still tested positive, with 94 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

Knight, of Claremont Place, Hatherleigh, who was unwell yesterday and could not attend court, was convicted of drink driving in her absence.

Sentence was adjourned.

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