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Serial drunk driver involved in horror crash spared jail time because 'she's a woman'

30-year-old Victoria Parry was given a suspended sentence and a driving ban on Tuesday despite having two previous conviction for offenses involving consumption of excess alcohol while driving.
PUBLISHED JUL 9, 2019

A serial drunk driver, who smashed her vehicle into three cars after drinking a bottle of wine, has reportedly been spared a prison sentence because she's a woman.

A female judge reportedly told the woman, identified as 30-year-old Victoria Parry from Stratford-upon-Avon, England, that there was "no question" she "would have been straight down the stairs" to prison if she had been a man.

Parry, instead, was given a suspended sentence and a driving ban on Tuesday, despite having two previous conviction for offenses involving consumption of excess alcohol while driving.

She reportedly hit the cars and crashed into a ditch before her Fiat Stilo burst into flames. Parry was reportedly pulled from the wreck on May 23 last year. She was handed an 18-month suspended sentence and banned from driving for 24 months at Birmingham Crown Court.

According to a breathalyzer test, she had 102 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath, nearly three times the legal limit. Parry, a shop manager, has two previous convictions for drunk driving and admitted dangerous driving at Warwick Crown Court in April, according to the Daily Mail.

Judge Sarah Buckingham, who sentenced Parry on Tuesday, sparked outrage when she gave her a second chance on account of her gender.

The judge, before adjourning for pre-sentence reports, told the court in April: "If Miss Parry was a man, there is no question it would have been straight down the stairs because this is a shocking case of dangerous driving against a background of two previous convictions for excess alcohol. But this offense was committed in May 2018 and she has not been in trouble since. She has clearly got an alcohol problem. She is, whether she admits it or not, an alcoholic."

Prosecutor Tim Sapwell, during the hearing, said that "her driving was such that she caught the rear bumper of a van, and she next hit the wing mirror of a Vauxhall Insignia, and then the side of a BMW very heavily. She hit it with such force that the BMW's rear wheel was knocked off and the car was written off. It caused her Fiat to spin in the road and go down the embankment into a wooded area where it caught fire."

The court also heard that the woman had been banned from driving for three years after her second excess alcohol offense in July 2015. 

Shortly after the sentencing, Brake, a road safety charity, slammed the judge for letting Parry get off so easily on account of her gender. 

"Dangerous driving is a daily menace on our roads. When drivers take illegal and selfish actions such as drink driving, they knowingly put lives in danger. Repeat offenders are the most dangerous on our roads. They must be dealt with severely so that they no longer pose a threat to other road users," a spokesperson of the organization said. 

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