Semi-naked woman carried out sex act while driving on motorway

An Appleby woman who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on the motorway while masturbating has revealed she was trying to ‘cheer herself up’ after a catalogue of family problems. Lorry driver Jonathon Kitchen spotted Miranda Chapman, 43, of Doomgate, with her bottom half uncovered and masturbating as she overtook him between Carlisle and Shap at around 4pm on May 13. Penrith Magistrates' Court heard that Ms Chapman was pulled over by officers at Brunthwaite following a call from Mr Kitchen. She was charged with dangerous driving and outraging public decency.

Judith Birbeck, defending, said Mrs Chapman had been shopping in Carlisle when she received a phone call from her daughter telling her she was pregnant. “That might be good news to for many people but in this case it wasn’t. Her daughter suffers from mental health problems that are exacerbated during pregnancy so Mrs Chapman was unhappy and concerned by that call,” she said. Her son who is a soldier then called to say he was going to be deployed to Afghanistan.


Photo from here.

Ms Birkbeck said: “Mrs Chapman already has a relative who has suffered life threatening injuries from Afghanistan so you can only imagine her distress at the thought of him being sent there.” She then received a third phone call from her disabled father who lives in Ulverston saying that he needed her to go to his house because he had lost something. While driving Mrs Chapman had wet herself as she suffers from incontinence and had pulled her trousers and knickers down.

“All these events made her feel extremely upset and in a moment of madness she decided to start masturbating to make herself feel better. It was a completely out of character action for her. A decision made by all the incidents piling up and she believed she was in the privacy of her own car. She wasn’t slowing down to enable other drivers to see.” Mrs Chapman cried throughout the hearing and the court was told that she had suffered severe weight loss since the incident. Magistrates issued an interim disqualification from driving until October 8, when she will be sentenced following a probation report.