Drink-driver is spared jail by female judge because she is a WOMAN

Female judge spares serial drink-driver jail because she is a WOMAN – despite her having to be pulled from a fiery car wreck after downing a bottle of wine

  • Victoria Parry, 30, given suspended sentence after admitting dangerous driving 
  • Judge says if she had been a man ‘it would have been straight down the stairs’
  • Hit three vehicles before crashing into ditch where her car burst into flames
  • She was dragged from the burning wreck after crash near Stratford-upon-Avon

Drunk driver Victoria Parry, 30, is pictured outside Warwick Crown Court yesterday

A serial drunk driver who smashed into three cars after downing a bottle of wine was spared jail by a judge because she is a woman.

Victoria Parry, 30, was told by a woman judge at Warwick Crown Court that if she had been a man ‘it would have been straight down the stairs’ to prison.

The court heard the alcoholic was driving her Fiat Stilo when she ploughed into three vehicles before crashing into a ditch where her car burst into flames.

She was dragged from the burning wreck by other drivers after she crashed on the A46 near Stratford-upon-Avon on May 23 last year shortly before 7pm.

Parry, a shop manager who lives in a £235,000 home near Stratford-upon-Avon, already had two previous convictions for drunk driving when she appeared at court yesterday.

She admitted dangerous driving and was given a three-month suspended sentence.

Judge Sarah Buckingham said: ‘If Miss Parry was a man, there is no question it would have been straight down the stairs, because this is a shocking case of dangerous driving against a background of two previous convictions for excess alcohol.

Judge Sarah Buckingham (pictured) said at Warwick Crown Court yesterday that if Parry had been a man ‘it would have been straight down the stairs’ to prison

‘But this offence was committed in May 2018 and she has not been in trouble since. She has clearly got an alcohol problem. She is, whether she admits it or not, an alcoholic.’

Addressing Parry, the judge added: ‘You richly deserve an immediate custodial sentence of 18 months. I want to see whether you can really address the issues rather than paying lip service.

‘If you succeed, I will not make the custody immediate. If you don’t comply, I will conclude that you are not worthy of the chance.’

The court heard Parry almost caused a major crash when she overtook into oncoming traffic before ploughing into three vehicles.

Tim Sapwell, prosecuting, said: ‘Her driving was such that she caught the rear bumper of a van, and she next hit the wing mirror of a Vauxhall Insignia, and then the side of a BMW very heavily.

‘She hit it with such force that the BMW’s rear wheel was knocked off and the car was written off. It caused her Fiat to spin in the road and go down the embankment into a wooded area where it caught fire.’

Parry is a shop manager who lives in a £235,000 home on this road near Stratford-upon-Avon

Other drivers rushed to her aid, including an off-duty police inspector who released her from her seat belt and pulled her out of the burning car.

He noticed she smelled of alcohol, and Parry told him that she had had a bottle of wine, telling him: ‘I shouldn’t be driving.’

The court heard Parry had been banned from driving for three years in July 2015 for her second excess alcohol offence.

When Parry was arrested she took a breath test at the police station almost two hours later, the reading was only just under three times the legal limit of 35mcg per 100ml of breath.

Lucy Tapper, defending, said Parry started drinking up to two bottles of wine a day after being in an abusive relationship.

She said: ‘There is deep and genuine regret on her part. Having a crash presents its own consequences in terms of what you’ve done, and to have your car burst into flames is quite terrifying.

‘She says she thought she was going to die. his has been a very salutary lesson to her.’

Following the sentencing, a spokesman for road safety charity Brake said: ‘Dangerous driving is a daily menace on our roads.

‘When drivers take illegal and selfish actions such as drink driving, they knowingly put lives in danger. Repeat offenders are the most dangerous on our roads.

‘They must be dealt with severely so that they no longer pose a threat to other road users and making it clear that this kind of dangerous behaviour by any driver will not be tolerated.’

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