Jail let-off for drink-driving shame teacher
ROAD safety campaigners yesterday condemned a judge after he freed a drunken teacher who drove the wrong way along a motorway for seven miles, saying she was “an impeccable person”.
Stefanie Janikiewicz, 25, was nearly three times the limit when she was stopped on the M55, near Blackpool, in May.
The teacher, from Didsbury, Manchester, admitted dangerous driving and drink driving at Preston Crown Court and received a six-month suspended jail sentence and two-year ban.
Judge Anthony Russell QC said the case crossed “the custodial threshold”. But added: “The other side of the coin is you are an impeccable person.”
Carole Whittingham, of the Campaign Against Drink Driving, said the “abysmal” ruling sends out “totally the wrong message”.