Drink-drive mother had son, 8, in car (From York Press)

Drink-drive mother, Sharon Wharton, had son in car

9:39am Monday 4th March 2013 in News By Dan Bean, dan.bean@thepress.co.uk

A WOMAN was almost three times the drink-drive limit when she crashed a car containing her young son, a court heard.

Sharon Jane Wharton, of Field Avenue, Thorpe Willoughby, pleaded guilty to one count of driving while over the limit when she appeared before Selby Magistrates Court.

A resident of Low Street, Sherburn-In-Elmet, was in his home on January 3 when he heard “a loud bang”, and was told by his wife there had been an accident outside, Steve Ovenden, prosecuting, told the court.

Mr Ovenden said: “He went outside and saw a silver Mondeo, driven by the defendant, had collided with a bollard in the middle of the road. She was out of the vehicle, and her breath smelled of intoxicants.”

The court heard Wharton, 44, attempted to complete a roadside breath test, but after three attempts no usable sample was given, so she was arrested by police and a blood sample was taken which showed 226 milligramms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

The legal level is 80mg per 100ml.

Phil Brown, for Wharton, said neither Wharton or the eight-year-old boy were injured in the crash, but said the high alcohol reading was aggravated by the fact a young child was also in the car when it crashed.

Mr Brown said his client was “a single mother who has sole responsibility for her eight-year-old son”, and accepted that the threshold for a custodial sentence had been passed.

Magistrates requested a full report from the probation service before Wharton appears at Selby Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, for sentencing. She was disqualified from driving in the meantime.