Drink-driver who crashed through wall of Magherafelt school loses licence for 15 months

Thirty-five-year-old Chelsea Moore from Tobar Park, Cullybackey, Ballymena, was also fined £250 with a £15 offender's levy for driving while having consumed excess alcohol. Moore was fined a further £200 for having no insurance.

Magherafelt Magistrates Court was told on Wednesday that at approximately 11.20pm on November 21 last year, police received a report of a road traffic collision in the vicinity of Tobermore Road in Magherafelt.

Prosecuting counsel said the report stated a van had collided with an exterior brick wall at the Rainey School.

She said the van had gone through the wall and on arrival police spoke to the defendant and a male passenger, who was the only one with insurance cover.

The lawyer said Moore provided a breath specimen showing an alcohol reading of 74 mcgs per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 mcgs.

Admitting the offences, defence solicitor Stephen Atherton explained that Moore and a friend had been drinking in a bar.

Mr Atherton said the defendant’s friend was “more intoxicated than she was“ and this was the reason she had decided to drive.

He said the defendant has two children and the loss of her licence will cause her difficulties.

The solicitor added that Moore had recently changed insurance and that was the reason she was not covered.

Mr Atherton added she wished to apologise for her actions and pleaded with the court to keep the disqualification to the minimum period.