Stephen Decani will face no further action in relation to his drink-drive charge after he insisted the breath test he took was unreliable because he had just vomited
A millionaire accused of being twice the drink drive limit in his Aston Martin has been cleared after he explained the test result was misleading because he had just thrown up.
Stephen Decani, 42, failed a breathalyser test when he was stopped by plain clothes officers in Chelsea, south-west London, while driving his £150,000 Aston Martin DB11 coupe.
The chairman and CEO of investment company, Newscape Capital Group, was said to have been unsteady on his feet when questioned by officers at around 4.30am on June 9.
He had 61 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath when he was asked to get out of the car, Westminster magistrates’ court heard. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.
But the case was thrown out on order of the High Court after prosecutors had previously won a delay in the case because they’d failed to tell a police officer he was needed to give evidence.
When Mr Decani appeared before the magistrates earlier this year, his lawyer Philip Lucas entered a not guilty plea on his behalf and explained his unusual defence.
His lawyer said Decani was ‘completely cooperative’ with the police when he was stopped and he disputed the reliability of the road-side test.
Decani had ‘regurgitated’ at a particular point, he said, explaining that the results of the test were therefore unreliable.
He said the case was ‘a mess’ and they were in the process of getting an expert report dealing with the effects of vomiting on the results of the test.
Mr Lucas is the same lawyer who represented England rugby player Danny Cipriani last year, who was found guilty of drink-driving his black Mercedes after a night of drinking champagne.
The banker was stopped while driving down Chelsea’s famous King’s Road this summer
When the case previously came before the court in August, the prosecutor asked for the court hearing be adjourned after conceding that the case was not well prepared.
Mr Decani’s lawyers have since sought a judicial review of the decision to adjourn the case, leading to a High Court order that the case should be dropped.
It is understood the challenge centred on the reasons for the delay, with Mr Decani’s team insisting the previous hearing should have gone ahead without waiting for a police officer’s evidence.
Prosecutor Marie Olo, said: ‘The matter is remitted with a mandatory order that the claimant be acquitted.
‘By my understanding the decision to adjourn the defendant’s trial was judicially reviewed and the court decided that was not right and the whole matter should be dismissed.’
Magistrate Paul Brooks said: ‘The prosecution offer no evidence, we therefore dismiss the matter – thank you.’
Mr Decani, of Chelsea Harbour, will face no further action.