A Buckinghamshire man who drove at the gates of the Prime Minister's residence, Chequers, causing £38k damage has been jailed.
Matthew Wootten, of Great Kimble was driving a Volkswagen Scirocco along Missenden Road, Aylesbury when he deliberately steered towards Victory Gate at the entrance to the Chequers estate.
The 44-year-old made no attempt to slow as he smashed through the 80-year-old oak gates, causing significant damage and seriously injuring himself.
Several cans of alcohol were discovered in the car with Wootten found to be almost three times the drink-drive limit.
READ MORE: Emergency services dealing with incident at Chequers
He was jailed for 32 months at Reading Crown Court today (October 30) and banned from driving for 40 months.
Wootten previously pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, damaging property being reckless as to whether life is endangered and drink driving.
He was found to have a blood alcohol reading of 221mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood after the incident on June 25 this year. The legal limit is 80mg.
In total, he caused £32,641 worth of damage to the Victory Gate and £6,000 of damage to the bollards behind it.
Celia Mardon, a Senior Crown Prosecutor with CPS Thames and Chiltern, said: “CCTV footage showed that Wootten intentionally drove at speed towards the gates of the Chequers estate.
“The strength of this evidence, along with a significantly high alcohol blood reading, gave him little choice but to admit his guilt to the charges we authorised against him.
“Not only did Wootten cause significant damage to the Victory Gate, but he could also have put the lives of others at risk with his reckless driving.”
The Prime Minister at the time, Rishi Sunak, was not at Chequers during the incident.
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