A jilted lover crashed her ex-boyfriend’s car into the bowling alley where he worked, a British court has heard.
Claire Holley (31) got drunk and ploughed through the glass doors in her ex’s Ford Focus, coming to rest against the reception desk where he worked, Bolton Crown Court heard.
Her former boyfriend, Davy Jones, the father of one of her two children, had earlier ended the relationship and changed his Facebook status to single, the court heard.
Holley caused about £14,000 (€17,000) worth of damage to Hollywood Bowl at Middlebrook in Horwich, near Bolton, Greater Manchester, on January 25th this year.
Holley admitted at an earlier hearing to driving dangerously, drink-driving and two assaults on police officers as she was restrained.
She was sentenced to nine months in jail, suspended for two years, when she appeared at the court on Wednesday and was also banned from the road for 18 months for drink-driving. Holley was also given a two-year community order with a four-month curfew between 8pm and 7am.
Geoff Whelan, prosecuting, told the court Holley and Mr Jones had been in a two-year relationship and have one child together.
On January 25th she dropped Mr Jones off at his workplace but during the evening was texting him, pleading with him not to leave and to come back home - but he turned his phone off. She also wrote on Facebook saying she was heartbroken and crushed.
Holley, of Seddon Street, Little Hulton, then left her children, aged 11 and five, with Mr Jones’s sister and set off in Mr Jones’s car after downing half a bottle of wine and a couple of large vodkas.
Witnesses saw her parked up and revving the engine before ploughing through bollards and the glass entrance of the bowling alley at speed. Mr Jones was seen to run towards the smashed vehicle, shouting: “You have wrecked my car!”
Two off-duty police officers stepped in to help and were bitten and scratched by Holley as they tried to restrain her.
Recorder Robert Crawford, passing sentence, told the defendant she was spared jail by the “skin of your teeth”.
Outside court, Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the North West, said: “It was extremely fortunate that no members of the public suffered serious harm as a result of her extraordinarily dangerous driving.
“She drove her car at the public entrance to the bowling alley with reckless disregard as to what or who she would strike. The consequences could have been horrific.
“Using the car as a weapon is dangerous driving at its worst. The Crown Prosecution Service is dedicated to prosecute those who drive without regard for others.”
AP