Drink driver detected with one of the highest readings in Northern Ireland

Kerrie O'Hagan (30), of Rowan Park in Craigavon, was also put on Probation for two years after being detected at Nutts Corner in County Antrim.

She had an alcohol in breath reading of 164 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath - the legal limit in Northern Ireland is 35mg/100ml.

Her reading - which was detected in February - was higher than the highest recorded reading in the PSNI's Christmas anti-drink driving campaign for 2022 - which was 157mg/100 ml.

The defendant was in the dock at Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena, on Tuesday, where a prosecutor said at 7pm on February 10, police received a report of a BMW "swerving all over the road".

Police saw the car going into a filling station at Tully Road, Nutts Corner, and noted an empty wine bottle on the front passenger seat. The defendant was alone and there was a strong smell of intoxicating liquor.

She was told a preliminary breath test device was being brought to the scene and she was asked to take her keys out. She swore at police and failed to calm down. When arrested she kicked out.

She failed a preliminary breath test - the reading of which was not disclosed to the court - and when taken to an unnamed police station she had a reading of 164 in breath in an evidential test.

The defendant pleaded guilty to charges of driving with excess alcohol in breath; disorderly behaviour and resisting police on February 10.

The court heard the defendant had a previous record and that in 2020 she was given a six months jail term, suspended for three years, in relation to the discovery of cocaine.

Defence barrister Aaron Thompson accepted the offence in February this year involved an "exceptionally high" reading. He added: "Whether it is one bottle of wine, or two or three, whatever it is, there is a deliberate effort to get drunk immediately after work."

The lawyer said the defendant "couldn't articulate any valid reason why she actively sought out drink whilst driving". He added a Probation report said the defendant felt she had "lost her way" and "felt she was going nowhere in life".

He said the defendant was working full-time with "a great employment history". He felt Probation could help as there must be "something going on in the background".

District Judge Rosie Watters said being "more than four times the legal limit" had been detected at 7pm and asked: "How many people can get themselves absolutely blotto before seven o'clock on an evening when they have been working?"She said most people would be "challenged" to achieve such a reading "before you pass out".

Judge Watters told the defendant: "I don't know how you got a reading that high but it does make me think that you drink an awful lot on a regular basis." She said she was not jailing the defendant for the "very, very, serious" offence but put her on Probation for two years.

Judge Watters told the defendant to explain to Probation why she drank such an amount as "that is the only way you are going to sort yourself out and your life out".