School run woman had mug of vodka

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A mother who admitted driving her daughter from school while more than four times the drink-drive limit has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Kalia Scarman, 35, drank a mug of vodka before getting into her car to collect her daughter in Canterbury on 8 June.

Kent Police were called after she was seen staggering with the six-year-old and driving off with her in the front.

Canterbury magistrates gave Scarman a 90-day suspended sentence and banned her from driving for three years.

She was ordered to pay £60 costs.

Scarman pleaded guilty to driving while over the drink-drive limit on 24 June.

We wouldn't be wrong to send you to custody Heather Maple, magistrate

Prosecutor Julie Farbrace said police visited her home at Prospect Hill, Herne Bay, later on in the afternoon of the offence, and found her sitting on the stairs smelling of alcohol.

The mother-of-two, who at the time worked with adults with learning difficulties, refused to take a breathalyser test, but later changed her mind, giving a reading of 144 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.

The court heard that in a police interview she said she had consumed a mug of vodka about an hour before collecting her daughter but denied having trouble walking.

Clean licence

Ms Farbrace told magistrates Scarman had been receiving treatment for alcohol addiction.

She said: "She denied being drunk, saying that she would not have driven if there was a risk of causing harm to her child."

Anton Walden, defending, said Scarman was remorseful and aware of the consequences of drink-driving.

Sentencing her, chairman of the magistrates, Heather Maple, said: "We wouldn't be wrong to send you to custody."

But she said she would be spared jail because of her early guilty plea, good character and clean driving licence.

Scarman's 90-day sentence was suspended for two years. She was told she would have to undergo a six-month period of alcohol treatment and be subject to a two-year supervision requirement.