Alcoholic Derbyshire police officer fined for drink-driving

Robert Beeston pleaded guilty on the day he was due to stand trial at Nottingham Magistrates' Court

An alcoholic police officer who was reported for drink-driving by his estranged wife has been fined and banned from driving.

PC Robert Beeston had turned up drunk at his mother's house on the day of the offence because he wanted to see his children.

Nottingham Magistrates' Court heard that alcoholism had contributed to the breakdown of his marriage.

It cost him his job too, as he resigned from Derbyshire Police last week.

The 48-year-old was disqualified from driving for 25 months, fined £120, ordered to pay prosecution costs of £300, and also given a 12-month community order.

He admitted a charge of driving while unfit through drink, on the day he was due to stand trial.

The offence was committed on 28 June in the Kilburn area of Derbyshire.

'More than a bit upset'

Peter Quinn, who prosecuted the case, told the court that Beeston went to his mother's home in Kilburn because he knew his son and daughter would be there, as they visited their granny every week.

"When he turned up [his son] in particular was more than a bit upset to find that his father had turned up drunk," said Mr Quinn.

Beeston's wife and son later went to the matrimonial home "to see if Mr Beeston was getting on with selling it", Mr Quinn said, and they saw him driving towards them.

The defendant's wife then called police, and a sergeant from his own force went to his home to breathalyse him.

The reading was 105 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, and the legal limit is 35 micrograms.

Beeston showed the sergeant an empty bottle of Shiraz wine and claimed he had drunk it in between driving and the sergeant turning up.

'Subsequent drink defence'

He repeated this claim after being arrested, Mr Quinn said, claiming in interview that he had only consumed a "thimble" of wine before going to his mother's address.

"He stated he was not drunk at the time of the driving and he had consumed a bottle of wine after returning to his home address," said Mr Quinn.

"He said he could not understand why he was arrested, because he was not drunk at the time of driving."

Mr Quinn said Beeston originally pleaded not guilty and had been "proposing to run a subsequent drink defence".

This would have been on the basis he had only gone over the limit in between driving and being breathalysed.

However, running this defence would have meant his wife would have needed to give evidence against him at trial.

Sentencing Beeston, the magistrates said: "Quite clearly this offending is aggravated by the fact that at the time you were a serving police officer, and we expect very good standards of driving from our police officers, in their private life as well as in their working life."