{"id":3103,"date":"2025-03-05T11:24:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T12:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/?p=3103"},"modified":"2025-03-06T12:51:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T12:51:38","slug":"lawyer-refused-breathalyser-because-shed-just-had-cosmetic-lip-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/05\/lawyer-refused-breathalyser-because-shed-just-had-cosmetic-lip-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyer refused breathalyser \u2018because she\u2019d just had cosmetic lip surgery\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A lawyer who refused a breath test because she’d had cosmetic surgery on her lips is banned from driving (Picture: Cavendish Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A barrister wept in court after claiming she couldn\u2019t provide a breathalyser sample to police during a roadside test because she’d just had cosmetic lip surgery.<\/p>\n

Rachael Tansey, 44, was pulled over by police early in April 2023 after her Range Rover was seen driving \u2018all over the road\u2019.<\/p>\n

The mum-of-three, who was also the former director of a Hooters venue in Liverpool<\/a>, initially refused to use a breathalyser after telling officers she’d had cosmetic surgery done on her lips the day before, a court heard.<\/p>\n

But the ‘snappy’ barrister also refused to take a blood test on the grounds that she had a phobia of needles, a court heard.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Neve Flynn said there was \u2018no medical reason why the defendant could not have provided said sample\u2019, and she was convicted of failing to provide a specimen of blood for analysis following a trial.<\/p>\n

Convicting her, District Judge James Hatton said she had attempted to ‘backtrack’ from saying she’d had her ‘lips done’ to inferring that she was unable to have a blood test.<\/p>\n

His remarks came after a district judge last month told Tansey her story  ‘lacks any credibility whatsoever’.<\/p>\n

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Rachel Tansey was told her story ‘lacked credibility’ (Picture: Cavendish Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The incident occurred in the early hours of April 20, 2023 when Tansey was reportedly spotted ‘weaving around’ a bypass at 20mph near her home in Formby, Merseyside.<\/p>\n

Sefton magistrates court heard how she only partially got her lips around the tube then cited cosmetic treatment the day before, telling officers ‘I am doing my very best.’ <\/p>\n

‘It is like asking someone to jump up after a tummy tuck. I cannot do it,\u2019 she added.<\/p>\n

Tansey denied wrong-doing, insisting she had only been driving slowly as she had dropped a chicken wrap and been swilling mouthwash.<\/p>\n

But a healthcare professional confirmed there was no reason why she could not provide a sample.<\/p>\n

Appearing in the dock wearing a black dress and with a pair of glasses on top of her head, she wiped away tears as she was handed a 12-month community hour with 130 hours of unpaid work. <\/p>\n

Jack Cooper, defending, told the court that his client would \u2018sadly lose her good character today\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Ms Tansey claimed she couldn’t take a breathalyser as she had just had lip surgery (Picture: Cavendish Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018She has never been before the court before for anything like this. She wants me to apologise to the court and she has also apologised to the officers.<\/p>\n

\u2018She has looked back on the footage. She describes herself as snappy with the officers. She is ashamed to be here. She tells me she did not feel unfit to drive. She accepts that she was not really paying attention while driving. She is just glad that no one else was involved.<\/p>\n

\u2018Ms Tansey is especially ashamed as the police are a massive support for her at the moment for her and her children. There is police safeguarding, including domestic abuse. It is a situation where the police are a massive support to her. It makes her feel even more ashamed.<\/p>\n

\u2018She has three children. She is the sole carer of the children. She is receiving counseling. She has done that for a long time following an attack some years ago. When she is in a crowded room with men for example, she goes into defence mode. She says that is a contributing factor why she was the way she was with the police.\u2019<\/p>\n

Judge Hatton told Tansey she had ‘deliberately refused to provide a sample’, adding: ‘The only proper inference I can draw is that you were worried you would fail the test.’<\/p>\n

It was therefore impossible to say whether or not she had been above the drink-drive limit, he added.<\/p>\n

Earlier Jack Cooper, representing Tansey, said she had no previous convictions.<\/p>\n

He said she accepted being ‘snappy’ with police and felt ‘ashamed’ to be in the dock but had not felt ‘unfit to drive’.<\/p>\n

The company through which Tansey operated Hooters in Liverpool went into liquidation last year.<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lawyer who refused a breath test because she’d had cosmetic surgery on her lips is banned from driving (Picture: Cavendish Press) A barrister wept in court after claiming she<\/p>\n

Continue reading <\/use> <\/svg>Lawyer refused breathalyser \u2018because she\u2019d just had cosmetic lip surgery\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3103"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3103"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3109,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3103\/revisions\/3109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/burn-the-priest.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}