MACCLESFIELD, England, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- A drug and alcohol counselor in Britain was sentenced to three months in jail for causing a six-car pileup while intoxicated, court documents indicate.
Lynn Knapton, 53, had a blood-alcohol content 3.5 times above the legal limit and was too drunk to stand after causing the crash on Cumberland Road just before Christmas, the Manchester Evening News reported.
Knapton was sentenced Thursday at Macclesfield magistrates' court to three months in jail, and her driving privileges were revoked for three years.
"We are sentencing you to 12 weeks in prison, the indication being a very high level of intoxication, of poor driving and the risk you posed to members of the public," said Brian Titford, chairman of the bench. "The court regards the danger that you posed on Dec. 12 to other members of the public requires a deterrent sentence be passed."
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The newspaper said Knapton, in an attempt to avoid a cyclist, drove her BMW X5 on the wrong side of the road, damaging five cars in the process.
"All of the witnesses were able to say the BMW collided with their vehicle or shunted other vehicles into theirs," prosecutor Sonia Bellerby said, adding Knapton "was unsteady on her feet so much so that the constable had to take hold of the defendant to stop her from falling."
Knapton's attorney, Jane Novas-Morell, said her client "is a recovering alcoholic who unfortunately, just before Christmas, relapsed back into quite heavy drinking having been complete dry for a 10-year period. She accepts completely that she had been driving without due care and attention."
