Cancer Sufferer Was Four Times Over The Limit

CANCER sufferer Michael Mills crashed his car into a ditch after celebrating the news that a lump in his neck was not malignant.

Sixty-two-year-old Mills - who works voluntarily for a Soham butcher - then gave a breath test reading almost four times the legal alcohol limit.

Mills was on his way to work around 5am when his white Ford Mondeo left the road between Soham and Wicken, Ely magistrates were told.

Police arrived on the scene soon afterwards, and Mills told officers he had drunk three-quarters of a bottle of vodka the previous night. His car was written off in the accident.

Mills, of Kingsmead Park, Waterbeach, admitted giving a breath test reading of 126 mcgs of alcohol in 100 mls of breath, when the legal limit is 35 mcgs.

"This is absolutely a one-off," said solicitor Jacqui Baldwin. "He had drunk a large amount of alcohol the night before.

"He has been in hospital suffering from malignant cancer, and had three lumps removed from his neck. He got another lump in his neck, and had just heard the news that it was not malignant.

"He was celebrating the fact that he still had some light at the end of the tunnel."

She said Mills had been a butcher for a number of years, and still works on a voluntary basis in Soham on Friday and Saturday mornings.

Mills, a full-time carer for his wife who suffers from osteoarthritis, had shown "absolute naivety" about how much he drank before he drove, she said.

Banning Mills from driving for 32 months, presiding magistrate Hamish Ross told him: "You were four times over the limit, to say that is totally unacceptable is an understatement.

"This was an opportunity for you to let your hair down, but unfortunately you went off the scale."

The court gave Mills a 12-month supervision order and he must pay £60 costs.