Hunt Member's Driving Charge

A high-profile member of the Cheshire Hunt has been found guilty in court of driving without due care or attention.

Chester court heard Elaine Boddington, 36, of Stonehouse Lane, Peckforton, found her Mercedes was boxed into a space in Lower Bridge Street, Chester. Prosecuting, Lynda Oldham said: 'She reversed towards an Austin Maestro, made contact with the front bumper and pushed it two or three feet backwards. A loud bang was heard. She then drove off.'

Boddington, who runs Written Imagine, a public relations company, denied the motoring offence as well as failing to stop and report an accident. She was found guilty at a hearing yesterday and given five penalty points. She was fined £200 with £200 costs. The court heard she already had six points on her licence. Sentencing her, stipendiary magistrate Ian Charles said: 'For reasons best known to yourself you chose not to report this accident when it happened in March. A witness had a grandstand view of it and heard the bang.'

Giving evidence for the prosecution Alan Henry Steem, a former traffic policeman, said: 'I was waiting to pick my wife up in town and was parked in Lower Bridge Street. A Mercedes was parked between a Rover and a Maestro. It had about four feet of space behind it. The defendant came back to her car and looked at the space. She got in her vehicle and drove back towards the Maestro, stopping just before it. She then started up again and reversed into the Maestro sharply, knocking into the bumper and pushing it backwards down the street for about two feet. She drove straight off into the city centre.'

When the Maestro, owned by mature student Angela Margaret Sinclair-Jones, was examined, it was found to have a large crack about eight inches long on the front bumper. There was also a small crack on the registration plate.

When interviewed by Chester police, Boddington repeated several times she had not had an accident. She added: 'This may be a malicious allegation because of my high profile activities with the Cheshire Hunt. My vehicle registration is very well known.'

By Chris Smith, Chester Chronicle, 12 September 1997

Note: Elaine Boddington (Ellie Boddington, Ellie Shearer) is the spokesperson for the Cheshire Hunt.