Les Battersby actor admits grabbing wheel while wife drove
Bruce Jones, who played Les Battersby on Coronation Street, pleads guilty to dangerous driving
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Friday, 19, Mar 2010 05:01
By inthenews.co.uk staff.
The actor who played Les Battersby on Coronation Street for a decade has today pleaded guilty to dangerous driving by grabbing the steering wheel while his wife drove at 70mph.
Bruce Jones, real name Ian Roy Jones, changed his plea to admit charges of dangerous driving and drink-driving at Mold crown court.
The 57-year-old, who was last seen on Coronation Street in 2007, had been accused of trying to kill himself and his wife of 26 years, Sandra, by grabbing the steering wheel while she drove at high speeds down a dual carriageway last August.
The court heard Mrs Jones had been driving from Cheshire to Abersoch in North Wales along A55 dual carriageway after picking up her husband, who was drunk.
"[Jones] said he wanted to crash the car and kill them both," prosecutor Gordon Hennell said.
"They had an argument and he grabbed hold of the steering wheel pushing it up and then down. This caused the car to swerve violently in a zig-zag.
"He said he was going to crash the car through the barrier. He let go of the steering wheel but then said he was going to steer the car in front of a truck and kill them both.
"Sandra Jones was terrified but fortunately she did not lose control of the car and it did not crash."
The actor's barrister Dominic D'Souza said his client accepted he had an alcohol problem.
"Mr Jones accepts for the first time that he has an alcohol problem which he needs to address. It is one that has caused him significant problems over the last five or six years and resulted finally in him being in this situation today," Mr D'Souza said.
"He very much wants to address this with privacy and get his life together and save a marriage that has lasted over 26 years. He is very regretful at having his wife subjected to cross-examination in court and found the whole experience very distressing."
He will be sentenced next month, while a charge of common assault will remain on file.