A drink-driver who was caught with Class A drugs wound up in court after failing to co-operate with the police.
On March 22, a member of the door staff at the Globe Hotel in Lynn witnessed Katie Marlow drive into a car park in front of the building at around 11.30pm.
She straddled two spaces and came to a stop after a loud bang, having driven into a fence post.
When the staff member spoke to her, she appeared confused after exiting her vehicle. She then attempted to get back into it and put her seat belt on.
The police were called, and Marlow, aged 35 and of Weedon Way in Lynn, provided a positive roadside breath test, leading to her arrest.
When she was searched at the scene, a handbag containing 0.05g of cocaine was found.
In custody, Marlow provided one evidential sample to determine her alcohol level. However, she repeatedly failed to provide the second required sample.
“How can I breathe?” she asked officers, as well as: “Can you help me?”
She gave no medical reason for being unable to provide a sample.
Marlow appeared at Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, where she pleaded guilty to possession of a Class A drug and failing to provide a specimen for analysis.
In mitigation, duty solicitor George Sorrell said Marlow had been at her best friend’s funeral on the day of her offences.
He said: “What we know is that the defendant, in parking her car, didn’t park it very well - which I would suggest, in itself, is not an indication of poor driving, because a lot of people have difficulty with that.
“The fact of the matter is that the police were alerted, and they attended. She gave her sample, it was positive and she was arrested.
“By that time, never having been through this situation before, she was panicking. She feels in retrospect that she was hyperventilating.”
Mr Sorrell also told the court that the cocaine was not Marlow’s, but in fact belonged to a friend who had placed it in her bag.
“She doesn’t take cocaine. She has no drug habits at all,” the solicitor said.
He added: “I think it is worth mentioning that since the incident, it has had a severe impact on her. She has not drank anything since.
“She is concerned now with getting on with her job, to do well in that, and if possible to get her licence back at the first opportunity.
“So I am asking you to take a rather different view than that of the prosecution.”
Magistrates disqualified Marlow from driving for 17 months. She was offered a drink-driving rehabilitation course which, if completed, will reduce that term by 17 weeks.
She will also pay a £634 fine, £254 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.
An order was also made for the cocaine to be forfeited and destroyed.