A MAN who was found "unresponsive" in his car after a crash was more than four times the drink-drive limit, a court heard.
Paul Wilson, of South Green, Sealand, was produced in custody at Wrexham Magistrates Court on Monday afternoon.
The 56-year-old admitted that on Sunday (September 1) he drove a motor vehicle on Chester Road, Mold, after consuming so much alcohol that the proportion of it in his breath exceeded the prescribed limit.
He also admitted having used that motor vehicle in a public place without insurance.
Prosecutor Shane Maddocks told the court that at around 2.40am on Sunday, police were called regarding a collision involving the defendant outside the Queen's Head Pub on Chester Road.
The witness hadn't seen the defendant actually driving, but they had come across Wilson's vehicle in the middle of the road.
When the witness tried to speak to Wilson, he was "awake but unresponsive."
Police arrived a short time later, to find Wilson in the vehicle with the engine off and the keys on the passenger seat.
The car had sustained some damage to the front offside wheel arch and the tyre had come off.
Wilson said he was unsure what had happened, but said he was going to pick up his daughter.
The officers could smell alcohol on his breath, and when he undertook the testing procedure, it was discovered he had 141 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - the limit being 35.
Checks confirmed there was no insurance on the vehicle.
Lorraine McClure, defending, set out the background to the offence, explaining: "His daughter had a four-year-old child, who unfortunately died.
"The whole family is suffering, and due to the stresses and strains of family turbulence, he has turned to drink.
"In terms of what happened on the evening, Mr Wilson had been drinking and had gone to bed.
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"He then received a call from his daughter, who was hysterical, at 1.30am in the morning after an argument with her boyfriend.
"He went to go and pick her up, and he thinks it was at least three hours from his his last drink until he got in the car."
Ms McClure said her client, a factory worker, left home knowing he was over the limit, "out of pure desperation" because he was worried about his daughter walking alone.
"Unfortunately when he got there," she continued, "he got a call to say her friend had picked her up and it was on his return home that he had an accident.
"He doesn't recall how he had that accident - it may be that he has hit a roundabout, but we have no witnesses.
"He admitted he'd been drinking and is extremely remorseful."
Wilson told the court: "I am disgusted with myself, I was frantically worried about my daughter. I am sorry, I am genuinely sorry."
Ms McClure said the defendant believed when he got behind the wheel that he was insured.
The Magistrates handed down a 14 week custodial sentence, but suspended it for a year.
He was banned from driving for 30 months and must pay £85 costs, as well as a £154 victim surcharge.
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