Woman ‘responsible’ for closing of M54 at Telford

Veronica Stanley, 55, spent two hours on the edge of the bridge over the eastbound carriageway at Telford in August last year.

Police officers, ambulance crews and a trained negotiator were all involved in attempting to persuade Stanley to climb down, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard.

Judge Peter Barrie said that despite her problems psychiatric reports suggested Stanley was responsible for her actions and could control her behaviour.

“You caused immense inconvenience," he said. "It was selfish and self-centred and might have caused greater harm with the potential of collisions or harm to yourself.”

He added said that this sort of action was becoming common as a way of manipulating medical staff by people threatening to harm themselves.

“Creating a drama to get attention for what people wanted is not an acceptable way of behaving,” he added.

At court yesterday Judge Barrie gave Stanley a two-year conditional discharge and ordered her to pay £150 towards court costs.

Stanley, of Steventon Road, Wellington, had pleaded guilty to a charge of causing a public nuisance on August 10 last year.

She had denied a charge of causing a danger to road users which was ordered to lie on the file.

Mr Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said the incident happened at rush hour on a bridge over the motorway between Junctions 6 and 7 at Wellington.

He said Stanley climbed railings onto a small ledge on the open side of the bridge and the emergency services were alerted.

The motorway was closed and a police officer and a negotiator persuaded Stanley to hold the rails to allow a car containing a pregnant woman on her way to hospital and a trailer containing a horse that was distressed to pass under the bridge.

Mr Jones said that after an hour Stanley was finally persuaded to come back over the railings.

Mrs Debra White, for Stanley, said her client had a troubled history with mental health issues and the incident was a sad reflection of her illnesses - both mental and physical.

She said Stanley had been in physical pain and felt her condition was deteriorating and was effecting her mental health.

Mrs White said Stanley had no recollection of climbing over the barrier on the bridge, but later when she realised where she was she got back over the railings.

“She is remorseful and knows what she did will not happen again and now has a more structured support from mental health services," she added.

Mrs White said that her unemployed client had done a lot of charity work and raised £650 for Hope House last year.