Magistrate clears sleepwalking landlord of drink-driving

A Basingstoke host escaped a drink-driving conviction after he crashed his BMW into a lamppost because he was sleepwalking.

Matthew Sadler of the Queen Inn in Dummer, Hampshire, told Andover magistrates that he had been drinking at a friend's bar before quaffing wine back at his own pub prior to turning in for the night.

He said he had no recollection of driving his car, let alone crashing it into a lamppost and returning to bed. The first he knew of the event was when he was awoken by police in the morning and found his shirt to be bloodstained.

Sadler was found to be three times over the legal limit for driving. Sadler told the court: "I do silly things in my sleep. I can take £500 out of the safe and hide it or phone people and never have any recollection."

Sadler was cleared after medical tests and a family history of sleepwalking proved he was prone to the condition. Dr Irshaad Ebrahim of the London Sleep Centre said Sadler was a "textbook" example of a sleepwalker.

Sadler told the MA: "I just want to put it all behind me now and get on with my life."