Ex-footballer, Dean Saunders, has been sent to jail for 10 weeks, banned for 30 weeks and ordered to pay a fine by a district judge in Chester Magisrates’ Court for failing to provide a breath test when he was suspected of drink driving.
Why was this sentence so harsh on the face of it?
Firstly, the district judge is a legally trained and qualified barrister or solicitor. They are trained in the law, whereby Magistrates are not legally trained and rely on the court clerk.
Chances are a celebrity case is put before a paid judge (district judge). The reason for this is that it reduces any chance of the sentence being appealed, or any appeal succeeding. District judges can also be confident in making examples of individuals in the celebrity spotlight.
Secondly, the defendant would ordinarily be charged with drink driving based on the breath reading provided. If no breath reading is provided then this is seen as an attempt to hide how drunk the defendant was – so the court is entitled to draw its own conclusions as to how over the limit the driver was.
This is what happened right here. The judge threw the proverbial book for this reason.
Our advice would be to gain decent legal advice and don’t rely on urban myths or the internet.