THE daughter of murdered York businessman Geoffrey Leeming may be jailed after admitting driving while three-and-a-half times the legal limit before crashing into a bungalow.

The bungalow in Wheatfield Lane, Haxby, was a “scene of devastation” after Jayne Roberts’s BMW ploughed into it with an “almighty bang”, York magistrates heard yesterday.

The bench told Roberts, 43, of Eastfield Avenue, Haxby, that custody will be an option when she returns to court in August, following pre-sentence reports – including a psychiatric report. She was given an interim order disqualifying her from driving.

Roberts pleaded guilty to driving with 120 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, with the legal limit being 35 microgrammes, and also admitted driving the car without insurance and without a licence.

Collette Dixon, prosecuting, said there were a number of aggravating factors in the case, including the high level of alcohol and previous convictions for drink-driving and driving while disqualified.

She said the BMW struck two properties in the early hours of March 26, causing “substantial and significant” damage. “Such was the extent of the damage to one of the properties that the family had to move out for it to be renovated, with no completion date at the moment,” she said.

She said that a resident, Howard Fisher, was woken by an “almighty bang” and went into the living room to be confronted by a “scene of devastation, dust and rubble”. He saw a female crawling around on all fours, detained her and called police.

She said that when interviewed by police, Roberts could not recall what led to the collision, but said her dog had gone missing and had gone out to look for it, and had found the vehicle in the front of someone’s home.

Craig Robertson, for Roberts, said he would say little in mitigation at this stage, but referred to psychiatric difficulties she had suffered, and asked for an extended period for pre-sentence reports to be prepared.

In 1998, Roberts was alleged to have plotted with her mother, Jackie Leeming, and others, to kill her father, 63-year-old retired army intelligence officer Geoffrey Leeming, in the garage of their home in Linley Avenue, Haxby.

Both women always said they were innocent and the case was thrown out by stipendiary magistrate Guy Hodgson before it reached crown court. He said there was no case to answer. The murder remains unsolved.

The Press reported last year how Roberts’s husband James, a soldier who had earlier suffered undetected internal injuries after being caught up in two separate explosions while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, had died in York Hospital, aged 44.