Four times over the limit drink driver careered through Newbury streets - court

After nearly causing several accidents, Robert Michael Gwy-ther ploughed into a hedge, then reversed straight into the vehicle behind, the court was told last Thursday.
That vehicle belonged to a motorist who had been following the 51-year-old in order to report his driving to police, said Clare Barclay, prosecuting.
She said it was 3.30pm when the witness, identified only as Mr Robinson, saw Mr Gwyther, of Bath Road, Speen, in a black Toyota Yaris “driving erratically, to say the least”.
Mrs Barclay added: “He was veering across the road, almost hitting oncoming vehicles. Having forced one oncoming vehicle to swerve to avoid an accident, he came back into the correct carriageway before straddling the chevrons in the middle.”
Other vehicles had to swerve to avoid a head-on collision, magistrates were told, before Mr Gwyther “turned left into a private road, nearly hitting the rear of a lorry”.
Mrs Barclay said: “He drove to the end of the road and into a hedge belonging to a private house. He then started to reverse out of the hedge. Mr Robinson, who suspected the driver had been drinking, had been following to prevent him from making off, and he reversed straight into Mr Robinson’s vehicle.
“Mr Robinson got out of his vehicle and later told police that the defendant looked stunned. He smelled of alcohol and the police were called.”
Tests later showed 151mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath in Mr Gwyther’s system – nearly four-and-a-half times the legal limit of 35mcg.
The court heard that he subsequently claimed to police officers that he had only had two glasses of wine.
Mr Gwyther admitted driving after drinking more than the legal limit on the A4 Bath Road in Newbury on March 24 this year.
Darren Rodgers, defending, invited magistrates to adjourn the case so that pre-sentence reports could be prepared on his client.
He said: “You will also hear from a clinical psychiatrist and a personal psychologist. We are dealing with issues of post traumatic stress disorder and chronic grief.”
Magistrates warned Mr Gwyther he faced a lengthy disqualification because of the amount of alcohol he had consumed.
They bailed him until Thursday, May 8, when he is due to be sentenced by Reading magistrates.
In the meantime they imposed an interim driving ban.