Drink-driving NHS podiatrist who crashed on country estate suspended

Drink-driving NHS podiatrist who was four times over the limit when she crashed her car on Irish country estate after rowing with her partner at a wedding is suspended for six months

• Abigail St. John handed six month suspension following the tribunal findings

An NHS podiatrist has been suspended after she drunkenly left a wedding at a posh country estate and crashed her car on its grounds while four times the limit.

Abigail St. John decided to get behind the wheel while drunk and leave the five star country resort after having an argument with her partner and storming out of the wedding.

However, as she tried to leave the lavish Mount Juliet Estate, St. John drove her rented red Skoda Citigo straight into a bollard.

After police arrived at the estate in Kilkenny, Ireland, St. John was taken to the station where a breathalyser found she was four times over the limit and she was handed a €500 fine (£438.68) and banned from driving for three years in court the next day.

A tribunal heard when London-based podiatrist St. John returned to the city, she didn’t tell the NHS about her conviction – claiming to be ‘confused’ about Brexit protocol. 

St. John, who works for St George’s NHS Foundation Trust, has now been suspended for six months following the Health and Care Professionals Tribunal.

The tribunal heard when filling out a review form in July 2020, she did not tick a box indicating she had received a conviction.

Abigail St. John decided to get behind the wheel while drunk and leave the five star Mount Juliet Estate (stock image)

As she tried to leave the lavish Mount Juliet Estate, St. John drove her rented red Skoda Citigo straight into a bollard (stock image)

The drink driving had occurred nine months earlier in October 2019, the panel heard.

When an investigation was launched, St. John claimed she was ‘not aware’ she had been convicted and ‘misunderstood’ criminal proceedings in Ireland.

She insisted she was not arrested as she wasn’t put in ‘handcuffs’, nor breathalysed.

She wrote: ‘I was in the Republic of Ireland attending a wedding and was asked to move my car in order to allow a larger vehicle out of the car park.

‘I was on private land not a public road. The local police were attending another incident at the time, saw me exit my car and approached me and issued me with a driving penalty.’

Later, she accepted she made a ‘major error in judgement’ in not revealing what had happened.

She claimed she had no idea the conviction was so serious because of the way it was handled, the ambiguity of Brexit, being in a different jurisdiction, and advice from the Garda (the Police) at the time.

The tribunal said her argument ‘lacked credibility’.

Mount Juliet Estate is billed as ‘one of Ireland’s leading country estates’, with a Georgian manor home, a world-class golf course, a Michelin-starred restaurant, and views of the River Nore (stock image)

Read more: Off-duty police officer, 30, who got behind the wheel while more than double the alcohol limit is banned

In conclusion, the panel ruled: ‘We find it is not credible that Miss St. John did not know that she had been arrested, breathalysed at the police station and convicted of drink driving, following the court process on October 20, 2019.

‘She was held overnight at the police station, was taken to court the following morning and attended in front of a judge at a specially convened session.

‘She pleaded guilty, and was fined and disqualified from driving for three years.

‘The Panel rejects her evidence that she did not know that she had been convicted of an offence until this was disclosed when she was being promoted by her employer.

‘The Panel found that her account of being confused at the time and not aware she had been breathalysed lacked credibility.’

The tribunal ruled St. John had been ‘trying to hide the nature’ of her conviction by ‘deliberately omitting’ to mention it was for drink driving by providing ‘as little information as possible’.

‘She has shown some remorse but has not yet demonstrated meaningful insight into her misconduct,’ they added.

‘This shows a lack of appreciation of the seriousness of the issues raised by her regulatory body.

‘Miss St. John has consistently sought to minimise the nature of her conviction and sentence and has been dishonest in her response to the HCPC investigation.

‘This matter represents a serious breach of the standards of conduct performance and ethics in that there is both a conviction and the panel has found dishonesty to the regulator on three separate dates.’

As a result she was handed a six month suspension after her behaviour fell ‘far short of what is to be expected and it is necessary to maintain public confidence in the profession and the regulatory process’.

Mount Juliet Estate is billed as ‘one of Ireland’s leading country estates’, with a Georgian manor home, a world-class golf course, a Michelin-starred restaurant, and views of the River Nore. 

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