Nurse was three times the drink-drive limit when she hit man with car
31st October 2023

Nurse, 34, who was nearly three times the drink-drive limit when she hit father-of-three with her car leaving him with ‘life-changing’ injuries after being thrown out of nightclub is jailed

  • Charlotte Brown, 34, left Mark Davies for dead in a drunken hit-and-run in Wales
  • The nurse has been jailed for 16 months after pleading guilty to drink driving
  • She crashed into the 48-year-old, leaving him with ‘life-changing’ injuries

A registered nurse who was nearly three times the drink-drive limit when she hit a father-of-three with her car after she was thrown out of a nightclub has been jailed.

Charlotte Brown left a man for dead in a hit-and-run when she got behind the wheel of her car drunk, less than an hour after she was thrown out of a nightclub.

The 34-year-old, from Llandudno Junction in Conwy County, Wales, crashed her car into Mark Davies as he was walking home from a night out.

The single mother left the 48-year-old with ‘life-changing’ injuries, having briefly stopped at the scene before driving off and crashing her car, causing it to turn on its roof.

She was jailed for 16 months after pleading guilty to drink driving, causing serious injury by careless driving and failing to stop after a road accident at Caernarfon Crown Court today.

Charlotte Brown (pictured) got behind the wheel of her car less than an hour after being thrown out of a nightclub and crashed into Mark Davies, stopped briefly and then drove off

Mr Davies, 48, (pictured) enjoyed an active lifestyle and completed the Swiss Peaks 360km ultra marathon and had won a Welsh sports award for his running, his wife told the court

Prosecutor John Wyn Williams told the court that Brown had been spotted on CCTV stumbling around in Club One47 in Llandudno before being kicked out due to her behaviour inside.

It was less than an hour later that she got behind the wheel of her black Volkswagen Polo and began driving through the seaside town. 

The court heard that Mr Davies, a 48-year-old self-employed joiner, had also been out in the town on January 28 and was walking alone when Brown – who was almost three and a half times over the legal drink drive limit – ploughed into him at an estimated speed of 40mph.

She did briefly stop, but then fled the scene and continued driving until crashing outside the town’s magistrates court building and flipping her car onto its roof.

People went to her aid, but she ran away from the scene of the crash. 

At this time, Mr Davies – an award-winning runner – was transported to Royal Stoke University Hospital with ‘life-changing injuries’, the court heard. 

These included a ‘traumatic brain injury’ which has left the dad-of-three with complications to this day, including compromised speech and language as well as the inability to walk unaided or the use of his right arm.

The judge, Nicola Saffman, said these were some of the ‘most serious’ injuries she’d ever seen in a case of this type. Brown was arrested at her boyfriend’s address and interviewed by police about what had happened.

She provided a prepared statement which said she was ‘devastated’ after learning the full extent of what happened. She previously claimed to have no memory of what happened until she was pulled from her upside-down vehicle outside the court.

Brown did briefly stop at the scene, but then fled and continued driving until crashing and flipping her car onto its roof. People went to her aid, but she ran away

Pictured: Police conduct search along the roadside at Crogfryn Lane

Mr Williams read a statement out on behalf of Mr Davies’ wife Leanne, who asked Brown: ‘How can you be the cause of this and walk away?’ 

Her account of the months since the crash mentioned the torturous times she tried to balance family life alongside the prospect of her husband never waking up from the crash.

She said: ‘January 28 is a date I’ll never forget. The memories will never leave me.

‘The choice made that night by Charlotte Brown to get in her car drunk, to break the law, that selfish choice changed everything forever.’ 

‘We are just normal people with normal lives. We are living a life sentence due to the actions of someone else.’

Mrs Davies said the incident continued to have an impact on the couple’s three sons. 

At one point, one of their young sons asked: ‘Is dad going to die?’

Barbara Williams, Mr Davies’ mother, said she had been babysitting her grandchildren on that January evening when their lives ‘changed forever’. 

She said that her son was recovering ‘slowly but surely’ and it was his ‘sheer determination’ that wouldn’t let him give up.

Defending Brown, Lisa Judge said that Brown’s remorse will ‘fall as empty words’ to the Davies family, who had a dad that left that evening for a night out in Llandudno and ‘didn’t come home that night’ as the same man they continue to love and care for. 

She said there was no dispute about the ‘lifelong trauma’ the Davies’ will face as a result of her ‘stupid’ decision that night.

Judge Saffman said CCTV footage showed Brown was ‘extremely intoxicated, struggling to stand up’ that night. 

The judge told the nurse Mr Davies was hit by her because she was drunk, telling her: ‘You carried on after hitting him, leaving him at the roadside with the most dreadful injuries.

‘He’s lost the memory of much of his previous life,’ the judge added. ‘I can’t imagine, and I have never seen, more serious injuries in a case of this nature. It’s unlikely he will ever work again. This was a grave and life-threatening injury.’

The defence said the night was not a reflection on who the ‘true Charlotte Brown’ is – a mum-of-one and a nurse. The court heard that Brown had written a letter of apology to the Davies family but this was not shared at the hearing and could be given to the family when they were ready.

Imposing a 16-month jail sentence, Judge Saffman said nothing but prison would be sufficient after hearing how drunk Brown was before she decided to get on the road and risk lives. 

She told Brown she could not ignore the fact that she fled the scene of two crashes within the short space of time.

The punishment also included a two year and eight month driving ban. She was told that if she ever planned to get back behind the wheel, she must complete an extended driving test once the ban had been served.

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