Rich drink driver who could have killed someone but got off unpaid community work because “it would make her feel uncomfortable” Barbara Woodward is an utter disgrace
If ever there were a case of: “There’s one rule for the rich and another for the poor,” Cheshire widow Barbara Woodward sums such up perfectly.
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Discovered drunk in a car park on 17th November 2017 with “makeup smudged across her face… slurring her words [and] very incoherent,” Mrs Woodward was found to be four times over the legal limit by police. She was “slumped” at the wheel of her £80,000 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen and accompanied by her dog, a number of bottles of wine and a sandwich.
At her trial this week at Stockport Magistrates’ Court, Mrs Woodward outrageously put in a not guilty plea and attempted to claim she needed her luxury car as it was too far to walk down the driveway to her multi-million pound mansion. Of her situation Nigel Benson, defending, told the court:
“This lady has quite a large front drive, it is a quarter of a mile from the road and [a ban] would be difficult for her – she would have to make some lifestyle changes to go about her day-to-day life.”
“She is a lady of mature years who has led a blameless life and has somehow found herself breaking the law… She is already in a strange enough situation for her and giving her unpaid work would put her in an alien surrounding and would make her feel uncomfortable and out of her depth. She has never worked and putting her in this situation will affect her mental health.”
Of her, in a report, a probation officer added:
“She went out to buy alcohol because she [claimed she] had friends coming over and she liked to make sure they had something to drink… This was completely out of character for her. She doesn’t drink ever. Her husband never drank, they didn’t have alcohol in the house.”
“She has never had to pay a bill her life. She has never worked… She has never had financial issues… She is a mature lady and I don’t think she would benefit from unpaid work or a curfew… I challenged her about why she felt the need to go out in rush hour traffic at 9am on a Friday morning to buy wine and she accepts she was in a vulnerable situation… Due to the fact she hasn’t worked, she would find herself in an alien situation and I believe this would add to her stress and mental wellbeing.”
Despite being rightly banned from the road for two years, that Mrs Woodward got off a harsher punishment and community service is utterly wrong. One is now simply left asking: “If this wealthy woman had killed someone whilst at the wheel or was poor, would the courts be treating her with such lenience?”
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Readers have their say
15 comments
She may have been recently widowed but that is no excuse. She could have caused another family to lose a loved one and they should have thrown the book at her. The judge/magistrate should reassess this situation and jail this woman. How dare she bleat like a baby.
Claire you are a heartless moo who needs a broom up the bum!
The actions of Barbara Woodward could have resulted in a BODY IN A BAG or even MANY BODIES IN BAGS. A legal system that treats this rich bitch so leniently just because she’d only recently buried her husband is a disgrace.
You want putting in a bag!
Furthermore, why is she claiming she doesn’t drink? She was damn well found slumped in her gas guzzling Chelsea tractor smashed off her skull and tanked off her trolley.
One’s gob is smacked. If ever I were in legal hot water in England, I’d want Nigel Benson, her lawyer, defending me….
She is still free to take her car and drive it to her front gate so she doesn’t have to walk it. I suggest she regularly got smashed out of her skull and drove but this time got caught. One can see a few problems here with more of it, including friends coming round and never have alcohol in the house which suggests she lived like a hermit and it was the first visit from her mates. What a truckload of bull. Had she flattened or maimed someone’s nearest and dearest, consider the stress and mental wellbeing their family could have suffered.
Oh, please. Boo-hoo!
I am absolutely gob smacked, it’s outrageous how she got away with this, and even though her lawyer did a fantastic job for her, he should be bloody ashamed of himself.
I don’t see how a driving ban would have affected her arduous walk to her front gate, poor thing. Even if she were banned, she would still be allowed to drive on private property, so I’m not sure how that was part of her defence, having said that, is that distance such a hard walk anyway?
This case should be looked at again, it makes a mockery of any form of justice, anybody else would have had the book thrown at them.
To say, as her defence “She has never had to pay a bill her life. She has never worked… She has never had financial issues… She is a mature lady and I don’t think she would benefit from unpaid work or a curfew.” Is bloody ridiculous.
I have seen it time and time again where repeat offenders get off scott free, the only difference here is, she has never been caught before.
I don’t believe for one second she doesn’t drink, if she popped out to buy some booze because she had friends coming over, why on earth would you suddenly decide, out of the blue to park in a carpark and drink it all, these are the actions of an alcoholic, not a non drinker.
We ask, what would have happened if she had killed someone, well the answer I’m afraid is, much the same outcome, because a wealthy woman like her couldn’t possibly do prison time, could she? I mean, who would feed the dogs for god’s sake.
PS:
Now let’s wait for Stupid Stacey, Rolf could be innocent and the other moron, Find Madeline, to comment about this, and say she is innocent and Mathew should be ashamed of himself for reporting it.
Come on. She should be left alone. She didn’t kill anyone and she needs a car living in such an isolated neck of the woods. This article is nasty and unkind.
I new there would be one idiot..
Let’s hope she doesn’t run into your family.
Thanks for the positive reply Brid. My response is for the other lot.
I suppose you disparaging lot haven’t done a damn thing wrong all your long, jealous lives. I don’t condone drink driving, but it seems like Barbara Woodward has become a target for all those people who live from hand to mouth. Perhaps you would have had a better life if you had toiled as hard to achieve anything other than a life of fish and chips and a bottle of plonk every Friday!
She never worked a day in her life.