Drunk teacher was in class while nearly four times drink drive limit

A teacher drove to school while nearly four times the drink-drive limit and then taught a class drunk, a court has heard.

Julia Roberts, 49, said she had turned to alcohol to cope with the stress of working at Kingsdown School in Swindon, Wiltshire.

The design and technology teacher’s colleagues phoned the police on February 10 last year as they suspected her of being drunk in class.

Police later found a nearly-empty bottle of vodka at the school, Swindon Magistrates’ Court heard.

Roberts, of Faringdon, Oxfordshire, pleaded guilty in November to driving a motor vehicle while over the alcohol limit.

She lost her job at the school and was sentenced to an 18-month community order, with 100 hours of unpaid work. Roberts was also banned from driving for two years.

A breathalyser test taken at the school showed Roberts had more than 130mgs of alcohol in 100ml of breath, nearly four times the legal limit of 35.

While blood samples showed a reading of 253, three times the legal limit of 80.

Prosecutor Keith Ballinger said Roberts had fully admitted drink-driving when she was interviewed by the police.

She had drunk a bottle of white wine the night before, finishing off around five or six large glasses.

Defending, Luke Jameson said his client had drunk vodka after arriving at the school the next morning, which accounted for the large amount of alcohol in her system when she was tested.

She had been placed under ‘a lot of undue stress’ and responsibility that had resulted in her starting to abuse alcohol, the solicitor added.

Mr Jameson said: ‘It doesn’t provide her with any defence, but gives you some explanation of how she was feeling and the mental pressure she was suffering.’