
Gabriella Bardsley blamed her 'quasi-celebrity' status for drink-driving to escape from party after fellow guests targeted her with 'upsetting taunts'
The 23-year-old, daughter of Real Housewives of Cheshire star Tanya Bardsley, was more than three times over the limit when she was stopped by police.
Appearing before South Cheshire Magistrates' Court in Crewe today, Bardsley - who had been tipped to be part of this year's Love Island line-up - was sentenced to a driving ban and ordered to carry out community service.
At an earlier hearing last month, magistrates were told she was in her Audi A3 when she attempted to drive through a 'police blockade' at the scene of a road traffic collision in Wilmslow, Cheshire, on May 11.
Scott Woodward, prosecuting, told the court yesterday that Bardsley also drove around a recovery truck which had its lights on, that was also blocking the highway before stopping when a police officer gestured for her to pull in.
Mr Woodward said: 'It was evident she was under the influence of alcohol.'
During the earlier hearing, the court was told how Bardsley was visibly intoxicated, 'slurring her words' and 'struggling' to stand on her feet.
After a road-side breath test, Bardsley was taken to a police station and was found to have 122 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath - the UK legal limit being 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 milligrams of breath.
Bardsley, who stood in the dock in a white top and trousers, pleaded guilty to charge of drink-driving at the earlier hearing last month.
Her lawyer Gary Hughes claimed she only got in her car after fleeing a friend's party when someone recognised her from the ITVX series The Bardsley Bunch, in which she stars alongside her mum, her stepdad and ex-Manchester United footballer Phil Bardsley and younger brothers Rocco, Renz and Ralphi.
Mr Hughes said: 'Some people who were uninvited identified her as somebody who was on TV in a TV series.
'They decided to take it upon themselves to begin making hurtful jibes towards Ms Bardsley.
'She recognises it was a colossal error of judgment to leave the party impetuously and get in her car.'
He added: 'It's wasn't a flagrant disregard for the law. It was borne out of a set of circumstances and her quasi-celebrity status.'
Earlier, Mr Hughes told magistrates that Bardsley had been the 'subject of pressure from some quarters' due to her fame.
'She's been the subject off highly disparaging reports across her social media platforms,' he said.
'It has been a difficult couple of weeks for her.'
Gabriella dressed in a white top and trousers as she received her punishment for drink-driving
Bardsley had also been the target of a 'a number of upsetting taunts', he said, while 'some of the more unscrupulous members of the public are praying for her downfall'.
But Mr Hughes said his client accepted responsibility for her actions and there was not question of a 'lack of humility'.
He also pointed to her 'bonafide sense of contrition' and 'hitherto good character'.
Magistrates said they had considered the option of a jail sentence but also taken account of her previous good character.
They handed Bardsley, of Wilmslow, a 12-month community order and she was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.
She was also disqualified from driving for 29 months and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £114 surcharge.
Bardsley made no comment as she left court this morning but tried to hide from waiting photographers by using an umbrella held by her biological father.
But she turned round to look at a group of men, who were sat on bench drinking lager, when they shouted at her as she walked away.
Gabriella and her mother Tanya in her Audi - when she went to have a consultation with a surgeon about breast enlargement on their ITVBe reality series
The reality TV star is seen outside court with her stepfather after earlier hearing last month
'Gabriella's already said no to Love Island and we do need to get her a boyfriend,' Tanya, 44, told Closer Magazine.
Speaking of the family's new TV series she added: 'Gabriella just lives in fairy land anyway.
'So it's just another nice thing, you know, a little fairy land.'
Her brush with the law comes after ITV bosses axed Kyle Ashman from this year's line-up following his arrest over a machete attack in February.
The 23-year-old was later released with no further action, taking to Instagram to insist: 'I'm not a bad guy.'
Tanya married Phil in 2014 and the couple have three sons - Rocco, 15, Renz, 12, and Ralphi, five - and she is also mother of Gabriella from a previous relationship.
The Kardashian-style TV series about the family follows the ups and downs of the couple's life with their children and Tanya's parents.
In an interview with OK! Magazine, Tanya described them as 'more like the Clampetts who won the lottery' than the Kardashians.
Rocco, 16, received an ADHD diagnosis shortly after Tanya shared her own back in 2020.
She has said they live in a house where 'everyone is on the spectrum somewhere'.
A production team installed GoPro cameras throughout their home and placed small microphones in plant pots and on picture frames to capture the family's life.
Last month Tanya - who made her TV debut on The Real Housewives of Cheshire in 2015 - revealed how two masked men attempted to break into her £2million mansion while her family slept.
Luckily the gang were scared off before they were able to break into the property.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Guardian
37 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Windrush commissioner pledges to fight for justice for marginalised groups
The newly appointed Windrush commissioner has promised to expand his remit, to fight for justice for a wider spectrum of marginalised communities who have experienced discrimination in housing, education, employment and policing. At a launch event on Wednesday, Clive Foster will tell the immigration minister, Seema Malhotra, that he does not intend to perform a public relations role for the government. 'Many people were broken by the betrayal, hurt and displacement caused by a scandal that has left a stain on the social conscience of the nation,' he will say, adding that he will challenge officials until they complete 'unfinished work' and fulfil their commitments to those affected. Some commentators have cast Foster's new role as a 'Dettol commissioner', responsible for cleaning up the government's mess. Responding to this scepticism, Foster will tell an audience of members of the Windrush generation at Hackney town hall that his job will be 'to confront uncomfortable realities, not conceal them'. 'If I am to be seen as a Dettol commissioner, as some have called me, let it be in the spirit of healing and protection, not sanitising the truth,' he will say. 'Moral outrage still burns within me for people who had the legal and moral right to be here but were denied that.' Foster, a pastor from Nottingham, was named by the Home Office as Windrush commissioner in June and starts work this week. His appointment fulfils a promise made by the former home secretary Priti Patel to implement a series of recommendations designed to introduce comprehensive reform of the Home Office in the wake of the Windrush scandal, in which thousands of people, many of them from the Caribbean, were wrongly classified as immigration offenders despite having spent most of their lives in the UK. Foster plans to widen his role to address wider injustices, in addition to his core responsibility as 'a champion of the Windrush generation's legacy, ensuring this generation is remembered for their contribution – not just for a scandal'. He will say: 'What began as a fight for justice for the Windrush generation has become a mirror reflecting the broader struggles faced by Black Britons and other marginalised communities. People have come forward not only with experiences of immigration injustice but with experiences of discrimination in housing, education, employment and policing. I want to ensure these voices are heard in the places where change happens.' A number of applicants to the Windrush compensation scheme have seen their applications rejected because they had applied under the misapprehension that the scheme would offer compensation not just to people wrongly labelled as immigration offenders but also to those who had experienced racist treatment in the course of their working lives or during their education in the UK. Applicants often viewed the compensation scheme as an 'opening to express the longstanding hurt and pain they feel about discrimination', Foster told the Guardian. 'They want to express how discrimination and structural racism has affected them over the years. We need to create a space for those voices to be heard and ensure that the right action is taken.' Foster noted that there remained 'suspicion and apprehension' towards the Home Office among the Windrush generation and their descendants, and said some people were still wary about coming forward to apply for citizenship documentation. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion More than 8,000 people have received documentation from the Home Office confirming that they are living in the country legally. About £112m has been paid out across 3,334 compensation claims, in recognition of the extent to which people's lives were upturned by the Home Office's decision to categorise those affected as illegal immigrants. Some of those affected by the Home Office's mistakes were wrongly deported, others were detained, lost their jobs and homes or were denied access to pensions and free NHS treatment. The compensation scheme has been repeatedly criticised for being slow to resolve claims, and at least 64 people have died after submitting claims for compensation. Foster's parents moved from Jamaica to the UK in 1959. His mother worked as a nurse for the NHS and his father worked in factories and mines. 'This is personal for me,' he will say.


Telegraph
39 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Russia and Iran ‘trying to recruit British schoolchildren for espionage'
Hostile states are trying to recruit British schoolchildren to carry out acts of surveillance and sabotage in the UK, the head of counter-terror policing has warned. Detectives have identified several plots in which teenagers were allegedly recruited as criminal proxies by agents acting for Russia and Iran. At least one person in their mid-teens has been arrested and others have been investigated in recent months, according to Dominic Murphy, the head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command. The success of Britain's counter-intelligence work since the Salisbury Novichok attacks of 2018 has meant hostile states have increasingly been turning to criminal proxies to conduct their activities in the UK, it is believed. Earlier this month, five British men were convicted of carrying out an arson attack on behalf of the Russian Wagner terrorist group on a warehouse in east London with links to Ukraine. It later emerged that Dylan Earl, the ringleader, had been recruited online and had been offered money to carry out the attack. Counter-terrorism police have warned that young people, including school-age children and those who are feeling disillusioned, are particularly vulnerable to online recruitment and manipulation. Officers have urged parents and teachers to show the same sort of vigilance needed to prevent youngsters from becoming radicalised by extremists. Vicki Evans, counter-terrorism policing's senior national co-ordinator said: 'Our primary concern isn't that these other people are ideologically aligned to the views of state threats and people tasking that activity. 'But we are concerned that they might find themselves in an online environment where they are encouraged or egged on to do something and don't understand what they are being asked to do. 'Or they are offered some money and see it as a quick and easy way to get some money, not realising the consequences. Or they might be looking for the sort of notoriety in an environment where somebody is encouraging them and challenging them to do things.' She urged parents, teachers and other professionals to be 'inquisitive' and ask questions in order to avoid youngsters being 'inadvertently drawn into this sort of activity'. Ms Evans added: ' Espionage operations target our democracy, target our institutions, they threaten to fracture public trust here in our communities and threaten to target the things that underpin our daily life and our way of life.' Ms Evans said criminal proxies were 'disposable' to those tasking them and were often not even paid for carrying out activities that could lead to them being sent to prison for many years. She added: 'The reality is people are being targeted to conduct this work. They are then disposable to the individuals tasking them once they've been caught, and it will be the individual conducting the act who will be caught, and the handlers or the taskers will not come to their rescue or support them in any way. 'We are looking to raise awareness about this and make a direct appeal to people to think about what they might be being asked to do in these environments, who their tasking might be from, and what that could mean to them.' Mr Murphy said there had been a fivefold increase in work to tackle hostile state activity since 2018, and that a fifth of counter-terrorism policing's casework involved threats beyond traditional terrorism – primarily state-sponsored espionage, sabotage and targeted violence.


Scottish Sun
39 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
ITV in schedule shake up as Love Island is extended for ‘most shocking recoupling of the whole series'
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) BOSSES at ITV have decided to shake up the channel's schedule for tonight's Love Island. The long-running ITV2 dating show has been extended for the 'most shocking recoupling of the whole series.' Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 6 Love Island producers have extended tonight's edition for the 'most shocking recoupling of the series' 6 Execs decided the events were so dramatic, they needed to be shown over five parts Credit: ITV Casa Amor has shaped events in the villa for the entire week as some of the boys decided to bring new girls to the main villa. On the long-running dating programme, some of the girls also chose to recouple with more of the bombshells as relationships were tested. Harry Cooksley has been involved in a love triangle between Helena Ford and his ex-girlfriend Emma Munro. Meg clashed with new bombshell Malisha after her date with Dejon, while it seems that things might be back on with Toni and Harrison. As a new recoupling looms, producers have taken a rare step to make sure as much villa action makes it to the airwaves. Tonight's edition of Love Island has been extended by 20 minutes so viewers can get the most out of the super dramatic recoupling. The episode is apparently so dramatic, the drama has had to be shown over five parts. As such, the new sitcom Transaction has been pushed back with a new start time of 10.20pm. A source told The Sun: "It's the most dramatic recoupling of the whole series and was impossible to edit down to an hour." Recently, reality show enthusiasts were shocked by Harrison's recent behaviour. Love Island fans spot 'evil' way producers 'messed with' stars ahead of cliff-hanger episode as three couples' future hangs in the balance Onlookers were initially obsessed when Toni recreated the iconic Ekin-Su crawl on the terrace in a scandalous U-turn. She also admitted that she was "happier" with Harrison than she was with Cacherel 'Cach' Mercer. The Las Vegas cabana server then told her former partner to get rid of his Casa Amor bombshell, Lauren Wood, that he brought back to the villa. But viewers noticed that before the secret conversation, Harrison reassured Lauren throughout the day. Who will he choose? 6 Megan Moore and Dejon Williams previously clashed after Casa Amor Credit: ITV 6 Harry's head may have been turned away from Helena Ford Credit: ITV 6 Harrison Solomon reassured his Casa Amor bombshell Lauren Wood Credit: ITV 6 However, he secretly met with Toni Laites on the terrace Love Island continues on ITV2 and is available to stream on ITVX.