Portsmouth carpenter jailed after hitting two cars and rolling his van on the A27 in drunken rage

Leslie Scipio of Dartmouth Road, Copnor, was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on Friday after a crash that caused carnage on the A27.

The court heard the 46-year-old got behind the wheel in a rage on April 13 after his girlfriend at the time had refused to answer his phone calls.

His calamitous drive to her home ended at 6.55pm when he veered left from the inside lane, near Farlington, hitting a VW and a Hyundai.

The shunt was so severe it left a passenger in the latter vehicle with a broken nose, bad bruising and need for stitches in her head.

Prosecuting, Alison Ginn said a sample taken at Queen Alexandra Hospital, in Cosham, found 224 milligrams of alcohol in 100ml of Scipio’s blood – putting him almost three times over the legal limit of 80mg.

Scipio had been drinking at a local snooker club in the afternoon, before downing more booze at home later in the day.

Reading her victim statement, Ms Ginn told the court the crash took the victim out of work until August, leaving her needing counselling for PTSD.

‘The accident had a physical, emotional, psychological and financial impact on me,’ the statement began.

‘I’m still really struggling to be a passenger in a car.’

Ms Ginn revealed Scipio already had nine points on his driving licence for two previous offences, speeding and driving without insurance.

His latest, Judge Roger Hetherington heard, left the victim ‘caked in blood’ – suffering in a ‘fog-like state’ since the crash.

Thoughts of the incident also rendered her unable to enjoy hobbies like running or dancing, while fearing she could ‘be hit’ in a car again.

Mitigating, Howard Barrington-Clark said Scipio, a carpenter, showed ‘thorough contrition and empathy’ and admitted his crime was ‘serious’.

He told the court a row began between Scipio and his partner after she found out he had a day off work but made no plans to visit her.

He added: ‘There’s genuine remorse there on all fronts and there has been since day one.’

Despite a plea for a suspended sentence, Judge Hetherington slapped Scipio with a year behind bars and said he ‘only has himself to blame’.

‘It was an inexplicable piece of very bad driving made so much worse by the fact that you were almost three times over the limit,’ he said.

‘It was only a matter of good fortune that someone was not killed in this accident.’

Scipio has also been disqualified from driving for three-and-a-half years.

He was convicted on October 24 after admitting causing serious injury by dangerous driving and driving while over the legal alcohol limit.