A woman who asked her partner to keep her car keys while at a wedding, later discovered he had crashed it while on a joyride.
Craig Anthony James wrote-off his partner’s vehicle after taking it during the reception but then returned it to the car park and returned to the party pretending nothing had happened.
James had been spotted before ploughing the car into a fence on a quiet Gower road .
When his partner later went to her Honda Civic to get a pair of shoes, she found the passenger side of the vehicle was damaged, half the front bumper was missing and the wing mirror and lights were damaged.
She reported the mysterious damage to the police and got a lift home – but police then began to piece the events of the night together, including reports of a collision in Oxwich which uprooted a fence and left debris from a white vehicle behind, and reports of a car being seen driven by a man “wearing a grey suit and with a flower”.
'Badly damaged'
James, aged 31, of Clayton Street, Landore, Swansea , pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking and driving while over the alcohol limit, and to driving without a licence or insurance, when he appeared at Swansea Magistrates Court.
The court heard that James and his partner – a solider in the Army – went to her brother’s wedding at Perriswood Farm on Gower on June 18.
She asked him to look after her car keys because they wouldn’t fit in her handbag.
Julie Sullivan, prosecuting, said that during the course of the evening James – a provisional licence holder – left the reception, returning around 20 minutes later.
Towards the end of the night his partner went to car to get a spare pair of shoes from her car – and found it badly damaged.
She reported the damage to the police, and the couple went home.
'Joyride'
The court heard police launched an investigation, linking the demolition of a fence on Marsh Road in Oxwich with reports of the Civic being seen driven on the grounds of Perriswood.
They then went to the couple’s house shortly after 1am to continue their investigation – and a subsequent breath test showed James had 85 microgrames of alcohol in 100 milillitres of breath, the legal limit being 35.
The court heard details of an impact statement from the victim in which she said the incident was out of character for James, and that she found it hard to understand how somebody so close to her caused so much upset “for a joyride” in her car.
Jo Steadman from the probation service said James had told her he could not remember why he had gone for a drive, or where he had gone.
'Very drunk'
She said James had lost his job as a life insurance advisor following the incident, and had “jeopardised” his relationship with his partner.
District judge Neil Thomas said whatever had motivated James to take the car he had been “very drunk” and had crashed it – before lying about what happened.
For the aggravated vehicle taking and driving with excess alcohol he was given a 12 month community order and banned from driving for 24 months, and was ordered to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work and to complete a rehabilitation course.
James will also have to pay his victim £500 compensation.
No separate penalty was imposed for the licence and insurance matters.
see-http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wedding-guest-wrote-girlfriends-car-11800183
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