Drunk driver facing jail

AN Ipswich man has been warned he faces jail after admitting seriously injuring a headteacher by driving his car on the wrong side of the road while drunk.

South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court heard that Filip Wiewiorski, 22, of Bramford Road, was over the limit when he ploughed head on into Elaine Purves' car at around 8am on Friday December 15 last year.

Ms Purves, headteacher at the independent Ipswich High School in Woolverstone and has a young family, suffered multiple injuries and had to have her spleen removed.

The accident happened on the last day of term before the Christmas holiday period.

Gareth Davies, prosecuting, said a witness saw Wiewiorski, a Polish national who moved to Ipswich around 18 months ago, driving at “excessive speed”.

Mr Davies said Ms Purves herself realised the danger and tried to slow down and pull over to avoid the vehicle but was not able to get out of the car's path.

He said she suffered injuries including bruising, lacerations and scratches.

In a witness statement Ms Purves said she was operated on when medics realised her spleen was ruptured and she had lost a lot of blood internally.

She said her life had been tremendously affected by the accident with her two young children having to stay with her parents while she recovered.

Mr Davies said a breath test conducted some two-and-a-half hours after the accident showed Wiewiorski to have 30 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 mcg.

A forensic scientist was able to calculate that at the time of the accident he would have had between 50 and 58 mcg of alcohol in his breath.

District Judge David Cooper adjourned the hearing for reports.

He said: “This is a very serious case and I am bound to consider either having to send you to prison or a higher court for a greater sentence than I have the power to pass.”

Wiewiorski will appear again at Ipswich Magistrates' Court on March 28.