POLICE have today welcomed a custodial sentence for a Warrington mother who crashed her car into an oncoming vehicle, seriously injuring her child, while high on drink on drugs.
Bridie Trotter, aged 36, of Scott Street, veered into oncoming traffic on Birchwood Way at around 9.30pm on August 30, 2023. Her black Honda Jazz collided head-on with a Skoda Roomster carrying a 36-weeks pregnant woman, her partner, and their two children.
She tested positive for cocaine, and a blood test taken six hours after the crash showed 137mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood — the legal limit being 80mg. She was also found to have 195 micrograms of Benzoylecgonine (cocaine) per litre of blood, well over the limit of 50 micrograms.
She was sentenced to 27 months prison and banned from driving for four years.
Welcoming the sentence Police Constable Jamie Roberts said:“I welcome the custodial sentence handed to Totter. She decided to not only get behind the wheel of a vehicle after drinking alcohol and taking drugs, but also with two young children in the car.
“She clearly showed no regard for the safety of those children or the safety of other road users. Her dangerous driving caused a number of injuries to innocent people, most seriously to a child who spent days in an induced coma as a result.
“The rules of the road are in place for a reason and I hope Trotter spends her time in custody reflecting on her decisions.”
Trotter had earlier pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, drink driving and drug driving.
Liverpool Crown court had heard earlier how Trotter was driving a Honda Jazz along Birchwood Way, Warrington, with her two young children in the car.
She collided with another vehicle, a Skoda Roomster, which was travelling in the opposite direction.
As a result of the collision, one of the children in Trotter’s vehicle sustained a number of serious injuries, including a deep laceration to his forehead, a broken nose, a fracture to his right and left collar bones, and a fracture to the left side of his pelvis. He was placed in an induced coma until 3 September.
The second child suffered bruising, while Trotter was medically trapped inside the vehicle and sustained a fracture to her leg.
The driver of the Skoda Roomster, who was pregnant, and a passenger in the vehicle, suffered multiple injuries including cuts and bruises.
