IAPE Evidence Blog

The Mir­ror
BYLINE: LUCY THORNTON

York, Eng­land

A TWIN arrested for drink dri­ving got off because of a police blun­der — but his brother was banned for mov­ing the same car.

Christo­pher and John Cooper, 22, were breathal­ysed and arrested in August. But while Christo­pher was banned and fined, the case against John was dropped after a cru­cial evi­dence file went astray.

Mag­is­trates in York heard Christo­pher was arrested for drink dri­ving and left his car in front of a kebab stall. The stall­holder then com­plained to John that his trade was being ruined by the car.

John, of York, felt he had to move the vehi­cle, so he drove it to a car park. Steven Oven­den, for the Crown, said John was seen dri­ving the car on CCTV and police arrested him.

A breath test revealed he was one-anda-half times over the drink-drive limit.

John, of York, was banned for 12 months, and fined pounds 100, after plead­ing guilty to drink-driving. But Christo­pher, also of the city, pleaded not guilty and his case was dropped for lack of evidence.

North Yorks Police said despite exten­sive searches the miss­ing evi­dence could not be found, adding that the inci­dent was a “one-off”.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
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