Gran who was 'eight out of 10 drunk' at 11am spared jail despite FOURTH drink-driving conviction
22.02.2022 - 15:13
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A grandmother has been spared a jail sentence for her fourth conviction for drink-driving after telling a court she turned to the bottle to cope with a severe bout of loneliness.
Alison Maher, 50, a former senior supervisor for an aerospace firm, was found to be more than three times the alcohol limit at 11.20am after she drove 13 miles to see friends.
She later admitted she had been 'eight out of 10 drunk'.
Police were alerted by another motorist who dialled 999 and gave a running commentary as they saw Maher's Kia Sorrento being driven on the wrong side of the road before mounting a grass verge on a country lane.
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Officers arrived to find the Kia parked partially in a lay-by with the rest of the vehicle sticking out into the road. A quarter full bottle of white wine was discovered on the passenger seat.
Tests showed horse-loving Maher had 119 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg. Enquiries revealed she had previous driving with excess alcohol convictions from 1999, 2008 and 2016.
At Stockport magistrates court, Maher admitted her fourth drink driving offence but was given eight weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, after she said he had hit the bottle following five years of being teetotal when she felt 'isolated' due to having to move away from her family in a house swap.
The incident occurred on January 7 after the unnamed motorist called police whilst following Maher, of Chinley, Derbyshire, on the outskirts of Prestbury, near Macclesfield.
Prosecutor Mr Robin Lynch said: "The motorist suspected the driver may be driving whilst under the influence of drink or drugs. They