Man jailed for crashing into gates at Chequers

A man who crashed into the gates of Chequers, the prime minister's country residence, has been jailed for 32 months and disqualified from driving for 40 months.

Matthew Wootten, 44, of Grove Lane, Great Kimble, Buckinghamshire, caused more than £38,000 worth of damage to Victory Gate at the entrance to the estate near the village of Ellesborough.

He was found to be almost three times over the drink drive limit when the incident took place on 25 June.

He was sentenced on Wednesday at Reading Crown Court having pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving, damaging property being reckless as to whether life is endangered, and driving a motor vehicle when alcohol level was above the limit.

The court heard Wootten was driving along Missenden Road, Aylesbury, when instead of following the bend in the road, he drove straight on and crashed into the 80-year-old oak gates.

The incident caused significant damage to the gates and serious injuries to Wootten.

Several cans of alcohol were discovered in his white Volkswagen Scirocco, the court also heard.

He had a blood alcohol reading of 221 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal alcohol limit for drivers in England is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

Celia Mardon, from the Crown Prosecution Service for Thames and Chiltern, said: “CCTV footage showed that Wootten drove at speed towards the gates of the Chequers estate.

“The strength of this evidence, along with a significantly high alcohol blood reading, gave him little choice but to admit his guilt to the charges we authorised against him.

“Not only did Wootten cause significant damage to the Victory Gate, but he could also have put the lives of others at risk with his reckless driving.”