Sutton man's drink drive mercy dash for ill step-daughter

Joshua Thorpe’s Ford transit van was spotted speeding and going outside bollards while overtaking a taxi, on Skegby Lane, at 3.30am on February 4.

A test revealed he had 71 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, while the legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

Morgan Hogarth, mitigating, said Thorpe had a “stressful two weeks” before the incident: his partner had received emergency medical treatment, and his young stepdaughter had been injured in an accident.

“He had been invited out. It wasn’t a heavy night. He was back in about midnight. He was woken up at 3am. His step-daughter was in pain,” said Mr Hogarth.

Thorpe drove to what he thought was a 24 hour garage to buy Calpol for the little girl, but finding it shut, turned around and drove to a family member’s home.

Mr Hogarth said Thorpe, a driver, was likely to lose his job and had been about to buy a house with his partner.

Thorpe, 25, of Greenland Road, admitted drink driving when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court, on Wednesday.

The court heard he has a previous conviction for driving with excess alcohol in September 2015.

He was fined £330, with costs of £85 and a £33 government surcharge, and was banned for 36 months.

He was not offered a drink drive rehab course to reduce the ban.