Drink driver who 'drove on wrong side of the road' before crash in Suffolk arrested four years later at airport
The man had been summonsed to appear in court on 23 November 2021 but failed to appear, he was arrested at Newcastle Airport last weekend
Last updated 18th Jul 2025
A drink-driver who failed to attend court four years ago and had evaded justice since then, has been banned from driving after being detained at Newcastle Airport.
Matthew Norton, aged 50 and of no fixed address, appeared before Newcastle Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 15 July, where he was disqualified from driving for 16 months. He was also fined £450 and ordered to pay costs of £85, along with a victim surcharge of £45.
The offence occurred on 8 August 2021, when at around 7.20pm police were called to reports of a two-vehicle collision on the B1117 Halesworth Road in Walpole.
A Peugeot 207 being driven by Norton was involved in a head-on collision with a Volkswagen Touran. Norton had been driving on the wrong side of the road when the collision occurred.
He openly admitted to officers that he had been drinking alcohol before he got behind the wheel and he subsequently failed a roadside breath test. He was then taken to hospital for a check-up and consented to a sample of his blood being taken for analysis.
The results of the blood test were that he had 136milligrammes of alcohol in 100millitres of blood. The legal limit is 80mg in 100ml of blood.
Norton was summonsed to appear at Ipswich Magistrates’ Court on 23 November 2021 but failed to appear. The court subsequently issued a warrant for his arrest and he was then circulated on the Police National Computer as wanted for failing to appear.
Suffolk Police were aware that the nature of Norton’s work meant that he was frequently moving around the country and as such he was difficult to locate.
On Saturday 12 July 2025, Northumbria Police contacted Suffolk Constabulary with a notification that Norton was due to be on an inbound flight from Turkey to Newcastle on Monday 14 July.
Officers from Northumbria Police arrested Norton on entering the UK on Monday and he was put before the courts the following day.
PC Cole Aryaeenia, of the Halesworth Community Policing Team, said: “Matthew Norton no doubt thought he had managed to evade justice, but this case has proved your crimes will catch-up with you.
“Drink-driving is not a trivial offence – it is one of the ‘Fatal Four’ main causes of fatal or serious collisions – and it is extremely fortunate that no one sustained significant injuries as a result of this incident, especially given that this was a head-on collision and Norton was driving on the wrong side of the road.
“I would like to thank our colleagues at Northumbria Police for their assistance with alerting us to Norton’s impending arrival and for then making the arrest and putting him before the next available court.”