COURTS: Social worker escapes jail

Court stock image

Willow Hughes-Thomas of Clarendon Road, Shanklin, escaped jail when she appeared before IW Crown Court on Thursday.

30-year-old Hughes-Thomas had allowed her boyfriend and six other friends into her Citroen C1 vehicle, which she then proceeded to drive under the influence of alcohol. The vehicle overturned on Colwell Road at 2.30 am, leading to one passenger suffering a serious injury: an open fracture to his leg.

When breathalysed at the scene, Ms Hughes-Thomas blew a reading of 61 mgs of alcohol in 100 mls of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Taking into account her previous good character and guilty plea, the judge reduced a custodial sentence of two years to 16 months for dangerous driving – suspended for 18 months – to run concurrently with a three-month custodial sentence for drink driving, also suspended for 18 months. She was further ordered to pay £500 compensation, £350 in costs, banned from driving for 30 months and ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work.