A DRIVER who was drunk after a bingo night took cocaine “to help her concentration”, a court has heard.

Samantha Doherty was driving her BMW so fast, however, that she failed to make a sharp left-hand bend and ploughed into a garden wall.

The car was written-off but luckily neither she nor her three passengers, who were also intoxicated, were injured.

The 34-year-old mum-of-two has now received a 14 month prison sentence suspended for two years.

She has also been banned from driving for three years after admitting driving dangerously and with excess alcohol and two offences of drug driving.

'A potentially lethal cocktail'

Sentencing Doherty today (Wednesday) Judge Ian Harris said she was nearly twice over the drink driving limit and twice the driving limit for cocaine.

“It is a potentially lethal cocktail to have in your system while behind the wheel of a powerful car. You were leaving a bingo hall with your sister and two cousins.

“You were incompetent to drive and others in the car gave you cocaine to help you with your concentration when driving because you were already affected by alcohol.

"You behaved crassly and illegally. The irony is that you were out celebrating your late grandmother’s life. The reality is you could have easily ended your life and the lives of others,” said Judge Harris.

He told Doherty, of Millom Avenue, Rainhill, that only a custodial sentence was appropriate but he accepted that her remorse is genuine.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that she has two children aged three and eight and if she was jailed her husband, who works in Cumbria installing internet fibre optic cables, would have to give up his job to look after their youngsters or her mum would have to give up her 20 year career as a midwife.

Derek Jones, prosecuting, told the court that the incident happened on February 11 this year after a police patrol car in Sussex Road, Huyton saw her driving her BMW X3 at between 80 - 90 mph past the junction.

They followed as she drove along York Road, which has a 30 mph limit, and when she reached the T-junction with Longview Drive she failed to make the sharp left turn and veered across the road and crashed into a small garden wall demolishing it.

The front of the car was “completely smashed in “ and was a write off.

When officers spoke to Doherty they noticed straight away she smelt of alcohol and she failed an initial roadside screening.

She seemed unable to provide a breath test at the custody suite but gave a blood sample which showed she was nearly twice the limit, with 149 micrograms of alcohol in 100 mll of blood.

Cocaine was also found at twice the limit and by-products of the drug were also found at five times the limit.

'She is thoroughly ashamed'

Matthew Buckland, defending, said that Doherty, who kept wiping away tears as she sat in the dock, has no previous convictions and is “a stay at home mum.”

He added: “She is thoroughly ashamed of her conduct and to be here today….She has spent the last eight months terrified what the consequences of her reckless reprehensible driving might be.”

Mr Buckland added: “The court can be satisfied there is no prospect of repetition.”

Judge Harris ordered her to carry out 20 days rehabilitation activities, saying she would benefit from probation help and also ordered her to carry out 120 hours unpaid work as punishment. She will have to take an extended re-test before she can get back behind the wheel.