A former Tory councillor has been found guilty of drink driving after a trial which took almost three years to go through the courts.
A blood test found that Joe Miller, then a Rottingdean councillor, had been driving while about twice over the limit on the A27 in September 2020.
He pleaded not guilty, arguing that he had not been able to give proper consent because he had been suffering from a panic attack.
His defence also argued that police procedures had not been followed correctly, saying he should have been taken to hospital, he wasn’t told of his rights at the correct time, and he wasn’t properly supplied with a blood sample to analyse himself.
But today, district judge Nicola Fleck dismissed all his arguments and found him guilty of driving under the influence.
She said: “There has been no evidence before me to suggest that the panic attack was anything less than genuine.
“There were some periods where he was calmer and was challenging officers about whether his partner had been contacted.
“He was discussing the rights and wrongs of shooting, and asking for a solicitor.
“I’m satisfied so that I am sure that Mr Miller understood and comprehended what was happening. He gave true and unconditional consent.
“I do not accept that he was coerced in any way and I reject his evidence on this point.”
She banned him from driving for 14 months, fined him £1,125 and ordered him to pay a £112.50 victim surcharge and £930 costs, due to be paid within three months.
Mitigating, John Dye stressed that Miller is of good character, adding: “He’s actually trained as a barrister and knows this will probably put an end to him pursuing this.
“He was a councillor and left this partly because of this and partly because of other reasons.”
As well as prosecuting barrister Dominic Dudkowski, two more representatives from the Crown Prosecution Service came into court to hear the verdict.
Miller’s partner Charlie Robinson was in the public gallery for all of today’s hearing.
This morning, Miller told the court he was worried he was being set up when a roadside cocaine test gave a false positive.
Joe Miller, who was then a Rottingdean councillor, was stopped on the A27 after police officers spotted him speeding and tailgating.
He repeatedly fluffed roadside blood tests before finally blowing a positive one, and was then given a drug saliva test, which registered the false positive.
At the station, he had a panic attack which, his defence argues, meant he was not capable of giving consent to the blood test which led to him being charged with drink driving.
Today, he told the second day of his trial his arrest was like an “out of body experience” and he did not recall anything after arriving at Hollingbury police suite.
He said: “I was concerned for my health. I had never had a detention at school, I had never been in trouble with the police before and it was all extremely nerve wracking.
“I don’t think people understand just how nervous about the situation I was – and then to have a positive drug test.
“I was a politician, I didn’t know if I had been set up or if I was going to have a heart attack.
“I was panicking and nervous. It felt like an out of body experience and I found it very difficult to watch the footage afterwards.”
Under cross examination, he said he and his partner had moved in to their own house the previous evening, and had celebrated with three bottles of champagne.
On the day he was pulled over, he was on a fasting diet and had then had a large glass of wine at a shoot he attended at lunchtime.
He said: “I didn’t feel impaired, otherwise I wouldn’t have get into the vehicle.”
He said he had fluffed the roadside breath tests, sucking instead of blowing or not breathing enough into the tube, partly because he was nervous and partly because he had chewing gum in his mouth.
At the station, he said he didn’t feel he had given proper consent, saying: “I don’t believe I did give consent because I just wanted to go to hospital so the panic attack would stop.
“The police officer was saying the only way I would go to hospital was if I gave a sample.
“It was a rather tortuous situation.”
Miller, who now works as a consultant, said he no longer drinks and had never taken cocaine.
The trial finally started in March, after several adjournments because of overbooked courts and unavailable witnesses.
During the previous hearing at Brighton Magistrates Court, the prosecution said Miller deliberately “worked himself up” into a panic attack.
However the police medic said he thought the panic attack was genuine. The blood test subsequently confirmed he was more than double the limit.
The footage showing Miller’s panic attack at Hollingbury Police Station has not been released to protect his privacy.
But the dashcam footage which shows him tailgating vehicles on the A27 at Hollingbury has been released. The video shows the police car dashboard displaying speeds of almost 90mph as it keeps up with Miller’s BMW.
It also shows Miller saying he feels nervous about doing the test, adding: “I’m a bit worried I may be over the limit. I don’t know … a glass of wine may be over.
I’ve never been pulled over before and I’m a bit nervous about this … I’ve been shooting today and I had a glass of wine at lunch.”
In other footage not released but shown in court, Miller told police he had no idea how to blow bubbles with a straw or blow up a balloon.
He was arrested for failing to provide a specimen, and once handcuffed and in the car, he was given one last chance to use the breathalyser.
It indicated he was more than twice the limit and he was arrested for drink driving.
He was then taken to the police station, where his defence say proper procedure was not followed when he started hyperventilating, as he was not able to give proper consent to a blood test, which was needed to confirm the roadside breath test.
In footage shown in court, he is seen to calm down and say he understands what he is consenting to as he signs the form – but at other times, he says he is confused and doesn’t know what he’s being asked to consent to.
