Mum drove wrong way down A264 near Horsham and had to be '˜rammed' by police
The judge said Sasha Selby was ‘clearly under the influence of alcohol’ and said it was fortunate that nobody was killed in the incident on July 1, 2017.
There were cries of anguish as mother-of-four Selby, 39, was jailed today for the dangerous driving she said she does not remember.
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Hide AdSpeaking at Hove Crown Court this morning, prosecutor Naomi Edwards said: “PC Stoner was on duty in full uniform but in an unmarked police vehicle.
“He was stationed by the junction with the A264.
“PC Stoner saw the vehicle that Miss Selby was driving and saw it indicate to turn but in fact continued along the dual carriageway.”
The officer decided to stop the car and so he turned onto the dual carriageway and began following it about 12.20am.
The prosecutor said: “The vehicle continued straight across the central reservation and drove the wrong way along the opposite part of the carriageway.
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Hide Ad“It went the wrong way around the roundabout and continued into the path of oncoming traffic.
“PC Stoner estimates the vehicle was driving at about 60mph.”
The officer was worried by what he had seen so crossed the carriageway himself and begin driving against the flow of traffic.
PC Stoner then caused his vehicle to make contact with the rear of the vehicle Selby was driving in order to stop it, the prosecutor said.
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Hide AdWhen arrested at the scene, Lewisham resident Selby told the officer ‘I would have stopped if you had put your blue lights on’, the court heard.
Taken to Crawley custody centre for questioning, Selby tested positive on a drug swipe and then refused to submit to a blood test.
She told police she had gotten lost on her way to Kent and was ‘looking for signs’ when police ‘rammed her off the road’, the prosecutor said.
In police dashcam footage shown to the court, the judge heard PC Stoner say: “I am going to have to go for a stop straight away, this guy is going to kill someone.”
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Hide AdDefence barrister Adam James said: “She did accept she had two drinks which, as was shown by readings, did not put her over the limit.
“There were clearly traces of other substances.”
He added that she may have ingested some alcohol accidentally when open bottles of what she thought was water were handed to her open and tasted strange earlier that day.
Mr James told the court: “She is horrified by what has transpired and when she was interviewed she did not want to watch the footage.”
He said Selby has no recollection of what happened up until the point police made contact with her vehicle.
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Hide AdHe acknowledged that the custody threshold was reached but requested that her sentence be suspended.
However judge Christine Laing QC told Selby: “The fact of the matter is you were driving that car clearly under the influence of alcohol that night.
“You may have taken a wrong turning but having done that rather than stop you drove the wrong way around the roundabout and you drove for some considerable distance on the wrong side of the road.”
Judge Laing gave her credit for her guilty plea, and further reduced the sentence as much as she could because of Selby’s children.
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Hide AdSelby was jailed for four months for dangerous driving and two months for failing to provide a sample, to run concurrently.
She was banned from driving for 20 months and ordered to pay the victim surcharge.
As the sentence was read out there were cries of anguish from the public gallery.