‘I am absolutely steaming. I’m going to prison’

Laurence Christopher Mackie (45), of Le Mont du Boulevard, St Brelade, pleaded guilty to committing the offence in St Peter late on the evening of 12 September.

Legal adviser Advocate Darry Robinson said that police were travelling up Beaumont Hill behind a Mercedes van at about 11.30 pm that turned up into Old Beaumont Hill at speed.

They followed and watched as the van indicated to turn right at a bend and thought it was going to drive into a private address. However, it did not and the driver spun the wheels for a period of time as he tried to regain upward momentum on the steep hill.

The Magistrate’s Court heard that he then parked the vehicle and was seen to be ‘stumbling’ as he got out. He told officers: ‘No, you’ve got me – I am drunk. I am absolutely steaming. I am going to prison.’

He went on to ask the police officers what they were doing out on a Sunday night and was told it was actually Tuesday night.

Originally Mackie had been charged with failing to provide a breath sample when required to do so, as he was unable to give two samples at police headquarters.

Advocate Robinson said that he tried to blow into the intoximeter on 15 occasions and could only blow properly once. It was established the next day that he was suffering from bronchial problems that night but neither Mackie nor the police knew that at the time.

One intoximeter reading was taken at 12.45 am and showed that the level of alcohol was 63 mcg in 100 ml blood, when the legal limit is 35 mcg.

Advocate Jane Grace, defending, said that Mackie spent much of his time living and working in France as a ski instructor. When he is in Jersey he works as a tiler and has a job as a delivery driver, she added.

In mitigation, the lawyer told the court that Mackie had saved the lives of a woman and a man who got into trouble at Green Island.

In sentencing, Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris said that Mackie’s poor driving was an ‘aggravating factor’ which had brought him to the attention of the police.

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