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The Magistrate's Blog (2005-2012)

This blog has migrated to www.magistratesblog.blogspot.co.uk This blog is anonymous, and Bystander's views are his and his alone. Where his views differ from the letter of the law, he will enforce the letter of the law because that is what he has sworn to do. If you think that you can identify a particular case from one of the posts you are wrong. Enough facts are changed to preserve the truth of the tale but to disguise its exact source.

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Location: Near London, United Kingdom

The blog is written by a retired JP, with over 30 years' experience on the Bench.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Now That's Dedication

A pal of mine who sits on a nearby bench surprised us in the pub the other week by ordering, in addition to his usual pint, a glass of Guinness with a shot of pastis in it. He asked for our opinion of the odd cocktail, and we all agreed that it tasted horrible.
It turned out that he had recently heard a drink-drive case in which the driver ran the laced drinks argument, and produced someone who claimed to have put several large Pernods in his pal's Guinness (risky - he might be charged himself). The driver said that he hadn't noticed the funny taste, but the bench didn't believe him. Having tasted the doctored drink, we agreed that it would be impossible to miss the adulteration.

For the record, I have pinched this from JWP Solicitors' website:-
The defendant must show that his drinks were laced, that he did not suspect his drinks had been laced and that had the lacing not taken place then he would not have been over the limit. In our experience a laced drinks argument is rarely successful without the lacer attending court to give evidence to confirm that the drinks were laced and it is usual for an expert biochemist to provide a report on behalf of the defence to confirm the mathematics of the defendant's argument.

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