Horse lady is banned from driving 16/3/13
Stephanie Ann Noble of 6 Broadbay View, Back, Lewis, received a three year driving
ban at Stornoway Sheriff Court on Friday.
Noble was previously convicted after trial of having an alcohol reading of 62 mg
against the legal maximum of 35mg outside her home. The offence happened last May.
The "horse lady" who keeps an adult Connemara pony in her home front living had said
she was staggering under the weight of heavy bags of pony dung she was putting in
her car to dump elsewhere.
Police received a tip-off and went to her address. Noble maintained she had not drunk
any alcohol before driving but, when returning inside her home, had consumed about
a third of a bottle of Tesco's Special Reserve, oak aged whisky in the 25 minutes
before police officers arrived.
Her lawyer pointed out she had drunk a large glass-full and refilled the glass with
more whisky, topped up with cola.
But Sheriff David Sutherland did not believe Noble's stance and found her guilty.
Adjacent houses previously suffered blocked sewerage pipes for a period which neighbours
claimed to have been caused by manure being flushed down a toilet.
Noble was also placed on a two year community payback order and instructed to undertake
150 hours of community service work for placing an elderly couple in a state of fear
and alarm by persistently refusing to leave their home after entering uninvited.
She previously pleaded guilty to threatening behaviour towards the 80-year-old man
and a 75-year-old woman by shouting, swearing and uttering offensive remarks in December.
Noble now stays in a bedroom upstairs while much of her home given over to the horse.
The former riding school operator, originally from Londonderry, bought the animal
in Ireland for nearly £1,900 but faced a raft of problems in securing grazings nearby.
She previously said it was being kept in North Tolsta but a fallout with the landowner
resulted in the pony being “dumped” in the small front garden of Ms Noble home, on
a chilly Christmas Eve in 2011.
A makeshift stable has been created inside the house. Upright wooden pallets form
stall while bedding hay is strewn over heavy duty rubber mats across the livingroom
floor.
Bags of feeding stuff are stacked in the kitchen, tack and equestrian equipment is
stored upstairs and horse blankets are kept in the bathroom.
She mucks out the front room continually to discard the pony’s droppings and uses
cat litter to soak up its urine.