Farmer’s wife who went on vodka-fuelled midnight drive after drunken row with her husband is banned

A farmer has stood by his wife after she was banned from the roads for going on a vodka-fuelled midnight drive following a row at their luxury home. 

Katie Mather, 33, left her family’s £860,000 home in Thelwall, Warrington, Cheshire, following an argument with her lover during which an aborted 999 call was made.

Police arrived at midnight to find Mather was not at home, her husband frantic with worry, an empty vodka bottle in the bin and the family car missing from the driveway.

The officers left the house to look for her and came back four hours later to find Mather had returned home and was drinking in the garden. But she was arrested for refusing to give a specimen of breath having told police: ‘It’s obvious I am drunk.’

Mather arrived holding hands with her husband as she walked into Warrington Magistrates’ Court where she was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined £480 after pleading guilty to failing to provide a specimen of breath.

Katie Mather (second from right, holding her husband’s hand) was disqualified from driving for 12 months and fined £480 after she pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis. She is pictured arriving at Warrington Magistrates’ Court 

The court heard how she had driven to the couple’s new farm in nearby Runcorn to ‘clear her head’ following the row with her husband. 

Angela Blackmore, prosecuting, said officers were sent out just after 11.30pm on January 21 following an abandoned 999 call.

When police arrived at Mather’s home, they were greeted by the defendant’s husband, who told them she ‘had been drinking’ and showed them an ’empty bottle of vodka in the bin’,’ the prosecutor said, adding the family car was missing. 

‘There had been an incident earlier in the evening following an argument by text message which had escalated. The husband had tried to call for the police but had to drop the phone and the 999 call was discontinued,’ Ms Blackmore told the court. 

When police returned to the property at 3.55am, they found the defendant in the garden and asked to speak to her about the row. 

‘She was heavily intoxicated, she stumbled and was described as reaching into the driver’s seat of the vehicle,’ Ms Blackmore told magistrates. 

‘She was arrested on suspicion that she had been driving while intoxicated. She refused to give a sample. She was further arrested for failing to provide a sample. She said “It’s obvious I am drunk”.

Mather was taken into custody and again deliberately refused to provide a specimen of breath, the prosecutor said. 

Katie Mather, 33, left her family’s home in Thelwall, Warrington, Cheshire, after an argument during which an aborted 999 call was made.

Defending Mather, her lawyer Judith Hawkins said the 33-year-old – of previous good character – was ‘absolutely mortified’ by her actions.

‘She had been upset and traumatised about the earlier argument with her husband and had she given a breath test she would have argued there had been post-driving alcohol consumption,’ added Miss Hawkins. 

The solicitor said her client had been in the ‘middle of a very stressful’ programme of turning outbuildings into rental properties and that everything ‘came to a head’ on the night in question when tempers ‘flared’.

‘It was a very unfortunate incident,’ the lawyer added. ‘There was some dispute over some messages sent which escalated into an altercation. 

‘There was no harm done at the end of it and it is never going to happen again and the couple were quickly reconciled.

‘Tempers may have flared on that evening, and things said and done to both police and each other which were bitterly regretted. You can be assured by this lady’s lack of antecedents that she is not going to come back before the court again.’

Ms Hawkins said her client had never been in trouble with the police claimed she had been ‘traumatised’ by the ‘dreadful argument’ when police arrived.

‘She was very distressed. She thought “I am obviously drunk and I don’t know what is going on”,’ she said. 

‘She continued to be upset at the police station and did not know what was going on. When I asked if she was given a statutory warning she said she simply could not remember.

‘Had she been aware she would have provided a specimen.

‘I ask that you take into account what her state of mind was. She cannot believe what she did in retrospect. It’s a one-off and no harm was done.’

Mather, who was described as a ‘devoted’ stepmother, has a background in the construction industry and tends to the farm’s 50-strong herd.

Ms Hawkins insisted there had been no evidence of ‘bad driving’ and pleaded for magistrates to be ‘lenient’.  

‘This lady has learnt a salutary lesson and will never be before the courts again,’ she told magistrates. 

Mather was also offered a place on a drink-drive awareness course which if she passed will reduce the ban by a quarter. She was also ordered to pay £312 in costs and a victim surcharge.