Drunk gladiator crashes car

A drunken businessman is facing jail after crashing his Mercedes into a tree and fleeing the scene - while dressed in the full regalia of a Roman gladiator. William Bianchi, 38, had been to a fancy dress party the night he lost control of his Mercedes CLK and careered off the road.

Passers-by pulled him from the wreckage but when police officers arrived at the crash scene, he was nowhere to be seen. By the time police finally caught up with him in the accident and emergency unit of Macclesfield District General Hospital he had been joined by a friend dressed as Superman.

Bianchi was still wearing the red tunic, skirt, breastplate and sandals he had chosen for his god-daughter’s 21st birthday party in Alderley Edge the night before.



He had also sprayed his face with black paint. PC Gary Turner found him lying on a bed with his hair singed and a cut to his head. He looked, said the officer, “like the cartoon character Wile E Coyote”.

Bianchi, a clothing retailer from Bollington, Cheshire, was breath-tested and found to be one-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit. He was later charged with drink-driving, failing to stop at the scene of an accident, failing to report an accident, and driving without due care and attention.

The court heard that Bianchi was not the only party guest dressed as a gladiator. It was therefore possible, suggested his solicitor, Lindsay Orr, that police had arrested the wrong one. Magistrates in Macclesfield found him guilty on all charges and are due to sentence him on April 16.