A WOMAN has avoided jail after being caught behind the wheel while more than five times the drink-drive limit.

Sarah Newbiggin has been handed a suspended sentence and banned from the road for 40 months.

It comes after the 39-year-old was arrested by police in Knutsford on suspicion of drink-driving.

Her breathalyser reading of 178 was the highest magistrate Andrew Kerr had seen in his near four decades sitting in court.

“You were more than five times the legal limit, this is extraordinary,” he said.

“I’ve been on a bench for 38 years and this is the highest reading I have come across.”

Newbiggin was arrested on January 19 after being caught in a BMW along Toft Road.

She blew 161 on a roadside breathalyser test, well over the limit of 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml

She was tested twice more in custody, blowing 176 and then 178.

Defending, Miss Mann said her client was 'under no illusion' about how high these readings were and that she was 'horrified by her behaviour'.

However, Miss Mann said this was not a case of someone going on a night out and deciding to take a risk by getting behind the wheel, for example.

Instead, this was the result of a 'serious issue with alcohol', with her alcohol level built up over a long period and added to by two glasses of wine drunk on the day of the offence.

She continued: “At her worst, she was drinking three bottles of wine a day, although this had very little effect on her.
“For her, having a bottle of wine was the equivalent of someone else having a glass.

“She felt fine to get in the car initially, it was once she started driving that the effects got to her.”

Newbiggin, of Goughs Lane in Knutsford, was held in custody in Middlewich for three days.

During this time she 'reflected on her actions and how chaotic her life had become', Miss Mann said.

She also began experiencing withdrawal, flu-like, symptoms.

Miss Mann explained Newbiggin’s drinking problem worsened last summer following the cancer diagnoses of both her husband and her father.

This combined with caring for two young boys, running a business and looking after animals has made her life 'extremely stressful'.

“It’s taken something as serious as this for her to address the problem,” Miss Mann added.

“She now accepts she has an addictive personality.

“Her doctor advised her not to cut out drinking altogether as her body would not cope, they recommended to cut down to one bottle of wine a day.

“This lady is desperately in need of rehabilitation.”

Alongside visiting the doctor, Newbiggin has been attending twice-weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in Knutsford and is hoping to join sessions in Hale and Altrincham too.

Sentencing, Mr Kerr decided not to impose an immediate custodial sentence and instead sentenced her to 20 weeks in jail, suspended for 18 months.

He also ordered her to complete six months of alcohol treatment and at least 20 days of rehabilitation activities, while banning her from driving for 40 months.

“We are not prepared to offer you the drink-drive rehabilitation scheme at this stage, your efforts must be focused elsewhere,” Mr Kerr added.

“We hope that you will have success with your rehabilitation and hope that there will be a positive outcome for you and your family.”

Alongside this, Newbiggin must pay £120 in court costs and a £154 surcharge.

https://www.knutsfordguardian.co.uk/news/24133981.knutsford-drink-driver-five-times-limit-avoids-jail/