Drink driver confesses to police after mum tells him to own up

The Audi A4 had overturned after rolling down an embankment while Matthew Holleyman was over the limit.

On Wednesday, magistrates in King’s Lynn were told that he told police two incorrect accounts about how it happened – one including him not being the driver.

“The defendant’s mother attended the scene and told him to tell the truth,” said prosecutor Stephen Munton.

At a hearing last January, Holleyman had pleaded not guilty to drink-driving in Methwold Road, Whittington, at about 8.30am on December 11 last year.

But he was convicted in his absence at trial on April 12 and was back in court this week for sentencing.

Mr Munton said police had been called to the scene after Holleyman had been seen walking through Stoke Ferry with cuts and bruises.

“The defendant had presented himself at a property saying he had been in a collision and needed to get back home,” added the prosecutor.

The court was told Holleyman, of Matisse Court, Downham Market, jumped over a ditch when police arrived but then decided to talk to them.

He was arrested after providing a positive breath test, later blowing 44 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Holleyman initially told police he had been run off the road by a lorry after consuming three pints of Heineken and driving from Essex.

Then he said he was the passenger and the driver, for whom he could not provide the details, had run off because he was not insured.

In mitigation, the self-employed bricklayer and father-of-three said: “I understand I’ve got to be punished but I would ask for as little as possible because this is going to turn my whole life around.”

He said he wouldn’t be able to get to work during the mandatory ban.

Holleyman was disqualified from driving for 12 months, which can be reduced with completion of a drink-driver rehabilitation course.

He was also fined £500 and told to pay £600 costs and £50 victim surcharge.