A MAN who was driving under the influence of alcohol and cocaine crashed his car into a barrier on the A55 near the Britannia Bridge.
Alan Armstrong-Breen fled the scene after the crash with his female passenger, but was located soon after.
Armstrong-Breen, 42, of Hallwood Green, Bradford, was jailed for three months at Caernarfon Crown Court today (December 2), having admitted dangerous driving.
He will serve this sentence consecutively to the jail term he is currently serving, for a previous motoring offence.
Footage of the crash, provided by the Crown Prosecution Service, can be seen below:
Prosecutor Emmalyne Downing said that, shortly after midnight on February 21, Armstrong-Breen was driving a silver Ford people-carrier near Junction 8 of the A55, “scraping the left-hand barrier”.
Near the Britannia Bridge, he lost control of the vehicle, which went “veering across the carriageway” and “spinning and bouncing”, before hitting a barrier on the right-hand side of the road.
Armstrong-Breen then got out on the driver’s side of the car, and female by the passenger side – they declined witnesses’ offers to take them to hospital, and made off in the direction of woodland.
At about 12.50am, a police constable found Armstrong-Breen and the female near the scene of the crash, “covered in blood and scratches” and unable to stand up straight.
Both of them, who appeared to the constable to be intoxicated, both claimed to have been passengers in the car.
A bag which Armstrong-Breen was carrying contained a bottle of Malibu, which was nearly empty.
When the car was searched, it was found to be fitted with false number plates – the real plates were inside the vehicle.
He was arrested and taken to custody, and a drugs test returned a positive result for by-products of cocaine.
Armstrong-Breen had also been driving in excess of the legal alcohol limit, meanwhile.
Ms Downing said Armstrong-Breen had 38 previous convictions for 109 offences, including “quite a record” solely for dangerous driving offences.
Defending Armstrong-Breen, Shahid Rashid said his client’s “greatest mitigation” is his “acceptance of the fact he was driving dangerously”.
Mr Rashid said Armstrong-Breen “does not wish to behave in this way again,” and is “going to mend his ways”.
The crash did not cause any injury to others, meanwhile.
Sentencing, Judge Timothy Petts told Armstrong-Breen he was “clearly going far too fast” prior to crashing the car, before abandoning it in “not a very safe position”.
Judge Petts added to him: “You’ve got a bad driving record. You’re already serving a sentence for dangerous driving, which isn’t the first time you’ve been in trouble for your driving.”
Armstrong-Breen was banned from driving already, but this ban was extended to three years.
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