Fury after drink-driving teen who left man wheelchair-bound is jailed for just 16 months
A TEENAGER got behind the wheel after downing a bottle of rose wine and crashed into a motorcyclist – leaving him wheelchair-bound, a court heard.
Lauren Blanning, 19, was jailed for 16 months but the sentence was bitterly criticised by her victim Stephen Isaacs.
Blanning, who had passed her driving test only three months before, was nearly twice the alcohol limit when she decided to drive friends home from a party in Bristol in May last year.
Soon afterwards, her Ford Ka pulled across the path of Mr Isaacs, 49. He was thrown from his Suzuki 1,300cc, over the Ka, and landed 20 yards away.
A crash investigator said Mr Isaacs, recently married to wife Susanne, could have done nothing to prevent the accident.
He “died” on the operating table and was resuscitated but his catastrophic pelvic injuries have kept him in hospital.
Blanning, of Kingswood, Bristol, initially fled the scene to call her mother in “panic and shock”.
It sickens me that I played a part in such a tragic accident
A test showed she had 62 micrograms of alcohol in 100 milli litres of breath.
The limit is 35.
Blanning admitted driving with excess alcohol and causing serious injury by dangerous driving when she appeared at Bristol Crown Court.
She was also handed a three-year driving ban.
In a note she told the court: “It sickens me that I played a part in such a tragic accident.”
Mr Isaacs, of Fishponds, Bristol, said the sentence was “utterly and totally unsubstantial” and accused Blanning of crying “crocodile tears”.
He said he was led to believe she would face a grievous bodily harm charge and a 14-year maximum sentence.
Mr Isaacs has been unable to return to work at GKN Aerospace and the court heard there is little chance he will walk again.
