A SINGLE mum who went on a drunken 50-mile drive with her one-year-old son in the back of the car has walked free from court.

Bernadette Halliwell was seen weaving around a motorway in her BMW while on the way to buy a children's slide when she was stopped by police.

The 31-year-old was detained on suspicion of drink driving on the M6 in Staffordshire during the evening rush hour.

But she failed to give a breath test at the roadside after not blowing into the machine properly.

The mum-of-one, a carer from Kearsley, Greater Manchester, later admitted drinking wine ahead of her journey – but claimed she had only been driving erratically as she had become "flustered" while lost.

Halliwell insisted she had taken her eye off the road to pick up her child's baby bottle which had fallen into the footwell of the vehicle.

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She was ordered to face court but was subsequently caught behind the wheel of the same BMW while subject to an interim driving ban and falsely gave her sister's name.

At Wigan Magistrates' Court Halliwell admitted failing to provide a specimen of breath, being drunk in charge of a child, driving while disqualified and having no insurance.

But she dodged a jail sentence and was instead ordered to complete a two-year community order.

She was also banned from driving for 18 months.

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Miss Parveen Akhtar, prosecuting, said that on March 19 at 6.20pm cops received several reports of a BMW driving "erratically" on the M56 .

They later located her on the M6 at Keele services and said she smelled of alcohol, was unsteady on her feet and was "clearly under the influence of alcohol" – and had her 15-month-old son in the back.

The court heard Halliwell was giving an interim driving ban but was arrested again after being spotted behind the wheel at 9am on May 9.

The prosecutor said an officer at Eccles Police Station had "received information" that a BMW was being driven by a disqualified female.

She then gave her name as Catherine Halliwell and said it was her sister who was banned, but later admitted she was really Bernadette.

The court was told Halliwell had five convictions for 10 offences, including motoring offences from 2009 and 2010, and another from 2017.

Her lawyer Karen Moorfield said on the day of the road jaunt Halliwell had consumed two glasses of wine with a large bowl of pasta over a period of an hour and a half.

During the meal she trawled the internet and spotted a children's slide being advertised for sale so she decided to drive to pick it up, the solicitor said.

'FLUSTERED IN THE DARK'

"She took her son with her because there is nobody else to look after him," she added.

"She is the sole carer and felt fine and fit to drive."

Halliwell then "got lost in the dark" and began feeling "flustered" so started weaving in the traffic.

She then noticed her son had dropped his bottle so turned to pick it up which "caused issues with the manner of her driving".

Ms Moorfield blamed her client's lack of breath sample on her having an ulcer, a hole in her mouth and being on medication.

She added that Halliwell was suffering from depression, anxiety and PTSD and been struggling following her the death of her brother.

"She is truly and deeply sorry for the risks that she placed others in by her actions and the detrimental impact her actions could have on others but ultimately on her young son," Ms Moorfield added.

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Halliwell must complete 140 hours of unpaid work and participate in 25 rehabilitation activity days.

She must also pay £265 in costs and a victim surcharge.

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