A MOTORIST accused of driving while three times over the alcohol limit has been acquitted after prosecutors failed to inform the court their expert witness was on holiday.

Kevin Dunford had been due to stand trial at Oxford Magistrates’ Court yesterday, accused of drink-driving in Station Road, Chinnor, in July. He denied the charge.

The case was dismissed after District Judge Tim Pattinson refused to adjourn the trial because the prosecution’s expert witness was not available.

Judge Pattinson was asked to postpone the trial to a later date because the blood sample expert – who was due to give evidence alleging that Mr Dunford was more than three times over the legal drink driving limit – was on holiday.

But the district judge refused to grant the Crown Prosecution Services’s application for an adjournment because it had had two months to inform the court its witness would be unavailable.

He said: “This is a serious matter – this is a high reading of excess alcohol. There is a public interest in prosecuting in these cases, which I must take into account.

“But there is nothing I can find after rigorous scrutiny to justify adjourning this case, however regrettable that might be.”

After the judge’s decision on Wednesday, the prosecution formally offered no evidence to the charge and Mr Dunford, 36, of Wycombe Road, Princes Risborough, was acquitted. In a statement, Thames and Chiltern Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: “Between September 2014 and October 2015, 0.08 per cent (three out of 3,925) of prosecutions at Oxford Magistrates’ Court failed due to the CPS not being ready to proceed and an adjournment being refused.

“Although this figure is small, any number of discontinued cases for CPS reasons is disappointing.

“We would like to assure the public that all such cases are reviewed and lessons are learned.”