ITV star Honeysuckle Weeks admits drink driving but claims she had to flee over ‘forced sex’ fears

Honeysuckle Weeks was twice the legal drink drive limit when she got behind the wheel of her car to escape being coerced into sex, a court heard today.

The troubled 43-year-old star of ITV‘s Foyle’s War had been out drinking with friends in West Sussex when she claimed she felt compelled to flee the scene over fears she would be coerced into group sex after being invited to stay over for the night.

Weeks left the house and, despite being drunk, got behind the wheel of her £30,000 silver Honda CR-V SUV before reversing into a parked car in sight of an off-duty police officer. 

The actress – who has also appeared in Midsomer Murders, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries and Death in Paradise – appeared before Worthing Magistrates’ Court where she pleaded guilty to drink driving and was banned from the roads. 

It marks the latest in a line of personal dramas for the former child star of Goggle-Eyes, whose turbulent lifestyle has seen her run into trouble with the law and left her marriage in tatters in recent years.

Actress Honeysuckle Weeks (above) was twice the legal drink drive limit when she got behind the wheel of her car in order to escape being coerced into sex, a court heard

The troubled 43-year-old star of ITV’s Foyle’s War (pictured above on set) had been out drinking with friends in West Sussex when she claimed she was invited to stay over for the night – but fled the property fearing she would be coerced into sex

Weeks married hypnotherapist Lorne Stormonth-Darling in a Buddhist ceremony in the Himalayas in 2005. They are pictured together at a more traditional nuptial in St. Mary’s church, West Sussex in 2007. Weeks reportedly split from her husband in 2019 after a turbulent marriage

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Both Honeysuckle (pictured above) and sister Perdita saw their acting careers launch in the 1990s after they landed parts in the BBC2 children’s drama Goggle Eyes

After deciding to leave the property in Arundel, Weeks, of Byworth, West Sussex, reversed into a parked car before driving off and then returning just 15 seconds later.

The incident was seen by an off-duty police officer who stopped the car and realised the driver was drunk.

After failing to carry out a roadside breath test Weeks was taken to a police station where a breathalyser showed she was more than twice the legal drink drive limit.

The test showed she had 78 micrograms in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 35 micrograms. 

Mathew Howell, prosecuting, said: ‘On Monday November 28 last year at approximately 7.20pm the defendant was driving her vehicle in Arundel when she was seen to reverse into a parked car on the street.

‘The defendant drove off from the scene before returning 15 seconds later. The vehicle was stopped and the police officer realised the driver was drunk.’

The actress, who went to Roedean, the elite girls’ school in Brighton, and studied English at Oxford, had a rebellious youth and dated Hugh Grant in 2000. 

Famous for her role in the period drama Foyle’s War, Weeks spent 13 years posing as a prim, proper and ferociously loyal persona to the millions of viewers of the hit ITV series.

Despite the show’s success, she yearned for more and admitted she was looking forward to shedding the image she cultivated as Samantha Stewart in a 2008 interview.

‘I’m chaotic, happy and desperate to have some laughs. I’d love to do a comedy next, or something modern’, Weeks said at the time.

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Actress Honeysuckle Weeks (pictured in 2009), who went to Roedean, the elite girls’ school in Brighton, and studied English at Oxford, had a rebellious youth and dated Hugh Grant in 2000

In July 2016, Weeks disappeared during a stay as a voluntary patient at a care centre near her home in West Sussex.

Sussex Police issued an appeal saying they were searching for Weeks who disappeared after exhibiting ‘concerning behaviour’.

She was later found safe and well and remained with police before returning to West Sussex.

Her disappearance was not the first time the Oxford graduate has sparked concern for her wellbeing.

In 2015, Weeks was caught speeding with her five-year-old son Wade in the back when she was serving a driving ban.

Following sentencing she was made to wear an electronic tag and a nightly curfew was imposed for a month.

The actress also once claimed she fed cannabis-laced mince pies to her unsuspecting parents. 

In 2005 she married hypnotherapist Lorne Stormonth-Darling in a Buddhist ceremony in the Himalayas.

However the couple reportedly had a turbulent marriage with neighbours describing the couple having ‘vicious’ rows outside their home in Kensal Green, north-west London.

Weeks reportedly split from her husband in 2019 and tweeted a picture of a sign bearing the initials L&H with pink hearts burning on a bonfire, captioning it ‘Bye bye marriage’.

After failing to carry out a roadside breath test Weeks was taken to a police station where a breathalyser test showed she was more than twice the legal drink drive limit 

Weeks appeared before magistrates in Worthing today where she pleaded guilty to drink driving

Weeks, pictured above left in 2015 and right in 2014, told magistrates she got into her car to escape because she feared being coerced into sex 

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Wearing a tweed checked jacket, brown trousers, a grey polo neck jersey and brown boots, she today told magistrates she only got into the car after she felt she as in danger of being coerced into sex with a man and his lover.

She said she had been out drinking with friends and had been invited to stay the night in Arundel.

Weeks said: ‘I was expecting to stay the night in a friend’s house in Arundel but the man in question invited his lover to the property and I was in danger of being coerced into sexual actions with them which I found extremely unwelcome.’

She told magistrates she needed her car to take her son to school every day.

Weeks also told her she was not earning any money at present and was receiving Universal Credit.

Magistrates banned her from driving for 20 months and fined her £120 with £85 costs and a victim surcharge of £48.

Weeks agreed to undertake a drink driving awareness course which would reduce her driving ban by 20 weeks, meaning she could get her licence back in April 2024.

Weeks told the court she was no longer living at the Chichester Centre in West Sussex – a low security unit for treating people suffering from drug and alcohol misuse.

Weeks made no comment about her most recent case as she left court today.

Weeks (pictured alongside Foyle’s War co-star Michael Kitchen) told the court she was not earning any money at present and was in receipt of Universal Credit following the collapse of her acting career