A WOMAN who got behind the wheel while more than four times the drink-drive limit has been spared jail.

Worryingly, she did so while on the M6 with a child also present in the car.

Sarah Vazquez was stopped by police and later charged with drink driving and being drunk while in charge of a child.

The 43-year-old appeared to be sentenced at Crewe Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, September 21, where she was spared a period of imprisonment.

Edward Rattigan, prosecuting, explained how the offences were committed on Saturday, August 27.

At around 11am, police stopped the defendant, who was behind the wheel of a silver BMW 1 Series on the M6 northbound between junctions 18 for Holmes Chapel and Middlewich and 19 for Knutsford and Northwich at Tabley.

Officers conducted a roadside breath test on Middlewich Road in Holmes Chapel, after exiting the motorway, which produced a reading of 164 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

This was more than four times the legal limit is 35 micrograms, and worryingly, officers found a young child under the age of seven to be in the vehicle at the time.

Police originally appealed for dashcam footage of the incident to help support their investigation.

They also remanded Vazquez, of Wheatfield Road in Cronton, in custody before her first appearance in court.

Magistrates said that because the offences were ‘so serious’, only a custodial sentence could be justified.

This was due to the defendant’s ‘extremely high’ alcohol reading, poor driving, previous record and the fact that there was a young child in car.

However, taking her guilty pleas into account, they concluded that the custodial sentence could be suspended due to the impact on dependant family members, her engagement with assisting services and her ‘realistic prospect of rehabilitation’.

Vazquez was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison suspended for two years and disqualified from driving for five years.

Magistrates also ordered that she complete an alcohol treatment requirement for six months and 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days, as well as pay costs to the Crown Prosecution Service of £120 and a surcharge to fund victim services of £154.