Drink-driving nurse caused dad ‘catastrophic’ injuries in Llandudno

Charlotte Brown, 34, of Cysgod y Castell, Llandudno Junction, was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment at Caernarfon Crown Court today (October 31).

She had previously admitted charges of causing injury by careless/inconsiderate driving, driving without due care and attention, and driving while above the legal alcohol limit.

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Prosecuting, John Wyn Williams told the court that, just before 11.25pm on January 28, Brown was driving a Volkswagen Polo vehicle along Crogfryn Lane, when she hit 48-year-old Mark Davies.

Crogfryn Lane, Llandudno (Image: GoogleMaps)

Mr Davies, a pedestrian, suffered such serious injuries that he was unable to attend today’s sentencing, having spent the following three-and-a-half months after the incident in hospital.

Having been transferred to the Royal Stoke University Hospital, he was later moved to a specialist rehabilitation centre, where he lived in late August.

Though he has since returned home with his wife and three young children, he still receives daily treatment at the specialist rehabilitation centre.

The incident caused Mr Davies severe head and brain injuries, multiple facial fractures, and deep injuries to his thighs.

He has also lost the use of his right arm, cannot speak properly, and is unable to walk without support.

Mark Davies pictured at a major mountain race (Image: Don Hale)

After hitting Mr Davies, an incident which left Brown’s vehicle with a smashed windscreen, she continued driving before hitting a pedestrian crossing island by Llandudno Magistrates’ Court.

This caused her vehicle to overturn, and after being assisted out of the car by members of the public, Brown then fled the scene.

She had been at a family gathering in Llandudno during that day, before going to Club 147, on Mostyn Street, with her partner, Craig Crossfield.

CCTV footage showed Brown exhibiting “strange behaviour”, such as struggling to stand up and approaching another person who she mistakenly thought was her partner.

Investigations concluded that there were no environmental factors or conditions concerning Brown’s vehicle which could have been contributory to the crash.

Brown was arrested at her partner’s address, before being taken to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan.

When interviewed by officers, she gave a prepared statement, saying she was “devastated by my behaviour”.

She said: “I know that an apology is never going to be acceptable, but I’m so very sorry.”

Brown added that she had no recollection of the later crash outside Llandudno Magistrates’ Court, except for being taken out of her car.

Mr Davies underwent plastic surgery following his “catastrophic” injuries and had to be fed through a tube.

Mark Davies (Image: Don Hale)

His wife, Leanne, attended today’s sentencing and provided a victim impact statement.

Read out on her behalf by Mr Wyn Williams, it stated: “January 28 is a date I’ll never forget.

“The memories will never leave me. They are now a part of me. I wish I could have some reprieve from the torment I now live alongside.”

Mrs Davies wrote that her husband, a “loving father to three boys” and an “extremely talented joiner”, will “never be the same person again”.

The “selfish choice” that Brown made, she added, “changed everything forever”.

“Never did I think I’d be sitting in a room on a critical care unit, being told the worst news you could ever be told,” she added.

“Devastating doesn’t even cover it. I felt I was failing as parent. It was the worst time in my children’s lives… I couldn’t be there for them.

Mark Davies (Image: Don Hale)

“My eight-year-old never discusses it. We don’t know what’s going on in his little head. We are living a life sentence due to the actions of someone else.

“The impact on our lives is immeasurable. I can’t fathom the change that has occurred.”

Mr Davies’ mother, Barbara, who was babysitting his three children that night, condemned Brown’s “absolutely disgusting” decision to drive while drunk.

She said: “Mark is recovering slowly due to the sheer determination and strong will he always had.

“But it will take years of rehabilitation before he is anywhere near his old self. Our lives will never be the same.

“I feel angry at the driver of the car for getting into the car while drunk, and making the selfish decision to drive.”

Defending Brown, a nurse and a mother-of-one with no previous convictions, Lisa Judge said: “There can be no degree greater than the remorse she shown since.”

When Brown had “sobered up” the following day, Ms Judge added, she soon became aware of the severity of the impact that her actions had had on Mr Davies.

She acknowledged that her client committed a “terrible, devastating act that has caused this lifelong trauma to the Davies family”.

But, Ms Judge said, it was an act that was “totally contrary to every bone and sinew in her body”, from a woman who “gives anything and everything in her job”.

Brown, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, was said have been “living in a darkened environment” and in a “state of constant anxiety” since the incident.

She has written a letter of apology to the Davies family, the court heard.

Sentencing, Judge Nicola Saffman described the injuries sustained by Mr Davies as “the worst injuries I have ever seen”.

Brown was disqualified from driving for two years and eight months, and must then pass an extended re-test before the ban is lifted.

Judge Saffman told Brown: “The only reason Mr Davies was hit by you was because you were driving carelessly, because you were extremely intoxicated.

“Your impairment was so significant by the extent of your intoxication.

“I cannot imagine, and I have never seen, more serious injuries, in a case of this nature.

“The aggravating features strongly outweigh the mitigating features, strong as they are. This matter is so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate.”