A young former Nuneaton policewoman, who successfully appealed against a drink-driving conviction, is to stand trial over an allegation that she lied in the case.
Hayley Slater, who was a WPc stationed in Nuneaton at the time of the excess alcohol case, is accused of falsely claiming she was not driving her car when it was involved in an accident.
But Slater (22), formerly of Conway Avenue, Tile Hill South, Coventry, pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court to a charge of perverting the course of justice. The charge arises out of a drink-driving case last year, when Slater denied driving with excess alcohol but was convicted in September by Coventry magistrates who fined her £550 and banned her from driving for two years.
Slater, who had been with the Warwickshire force for two years but was suspended pending an internal investigation, was also found guilty of careless driving and failing to stop after an accident.
But at Coventry Crown Court in November last year she successfully appealed against the convictions.
During that hearing, Slater said a man she had met in her local pub had invited her to a party at a flat in Tile Hill, and she let him drive them there in her car.
She said she felt uncomfortable at the party, and when they left the man was again driving her car but crashed after just ten metres, and she added that she only left the scene because she had hurt her head.
The charge of perverting the course of justice alleges that between April 28 and November 20 last year Slater had falsely stated she was not the driver of her car.
During an earlier preliminary hearing, her barrister Meghann McTague said there would be two issues in the case - the evidence given at the magistrates court and during the appeal, and alleged attempts to influence a witness. After Slater, now of Lever Street, Haywood, had entered her not guilty plea the case was adjourned for trial and she was granted unconditional bail.
