Woman was four times drink-drive limit while looking after granddaughter

The woman from Walsall, who cannot be named, was stopped in Bloxwich Active Living Centre car park on February 23, when staff raised the alarm that they had seen her intoxicated while looking after a young child under the age of seven.

She was found to have 141 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – over four times the legal limit of 35 microgrammes.

The defendant had previously pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to being drunk in charge of a child under the age of seven years and driving a motor vehicle when alcohol level was above the limit.

Rachael Smith, prosecuting, said she wasn’t allowed in the centre due to being intoxicated and staff saw she had a young child with her.

She added: “Staff monitored her getting back into her car and asked her if she had been drinking – she said no, but her granddaughter said she had been drinking vodka.

“Police arrived at the scene and could see she was clearly intoxicated.

"They asked her again if she had been drinking and this time she said yes – and again the granddaughter pointed out a bottle in her bag, which was gin and tonic.

“She was arrested at the scene.”

Mr Simon Walton, defending, said: “There is a family history of addiction.

“This is not something she does in front of her granddaughter. She has always brought her granddaughter up to tell the truth.

“In all other respects she is a good, hard-working person.

“Her and her husband run a business in the area. She is a hard-working lady.

“She accepts at that point she liked to drink. She is now seeing doctors.”

At Walsall Magistrates Court on Wednesday District Judge David Webster gave her full credit for her early guilty plea and handed her a four-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months.

She was also banned from driving for three years and ordered to pay a fine of £400, a £115 victim surcharge and £185 in costs.

She will also have to undertake 28 days of rehabilitation activities.

He said: “I must reflect the seriously aggravating feature of the fact your grandchild was present in the car.

“Those who drive with the level of alcohol you had in your system frequently kill people and to expose your grandchild to harm.

"This is an offence so serious that only a prison sentence can be given."