A mum who went on a drunken 50 mile drive along a motorway with her 15-month-old son in the back of her BMW has walked free from court. Bernadette Halliwell, 31, from Kearsley, near Bolton, was stopped on the M6 near Keele services in Staffs during the evening rush hour after she being seen weaving around the carriageway whilst on her way to buy a children's slide she had seen on the internet.
The mother-of-one, a carer, from was detained on suspicion of drink driving but failed to give a breath test at the roadside due to her not blowing into the machine properly. She later admitted drinking wine ahead of her journey and claimed she had only been driving erratically as she had become 'flustered' whilst lost and had momentarily 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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Halliwell was charged but was subsequently caught driving the same BMW 116 car whilst subject to an interim driving ban and falsely gave her sister's name as the driver. At Wigan magistrates court she admitted failing to provide a specimen of breath, being drunk in charge of a child, driving whilst disqualified and having no insurance, but was ordered to complete a two year community order and was banned from driving for 18 months.
Miss Parveen Akhtar, prosecuting, said: "It was March 19, at 6.20pm and police were made aware of a BMW driving erratically on the M56. There were a number of phone calls made to the police control room. Half-an-hour later officers located the BMW southbound on M6 at Keele services and the manner of her driving led the officers to suspect she was driving under the influence of alcohol.
"They stopped the car and spoke to the driver. They said she smelled of alcohol, was unsteady on her feet, and was clearly under the influence of alcohol. The police asked Halliwell for a breath sample at the roadside but she didn't blow sufficiently hard.
"The officer noticed the 15-month-old son in the back of the vehicle with no one else present. She was arrested for failing to provide a sample and for being drunk in charge of a child. She was taken to the police station where her detention was authorised. Again, she failed to provide a sample of breath."
The court heard that Halliwell, was subsequently given an interim driving ban in April 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 female who had been issued with an interim disqualification.
"The officer sees the vehicle driven across his way," Ms Akhtar said. "He stopped the vehicle and approached her female driver. He explained the reason why he stopped her.
"Talking about the disqualification he asked her name. She said it was Catherine Halliwell. She said it was her sister Bernadette Halliwell who was disqualified. She identified herself as Catherine Halliwell in the back of the police car. A short time later she gave her real name as Bernadette and not Catherine.
"She said she knew she was disqualified from driving and did not want to get into trouble again that is why she gave her sister’s name."
The court heard that Halliwell had five convictions for 10 offences, including from 2009 and 2010 for motoring offences and from 2017, for a dissimilar motoring offence. Her lawyer Karen Moorfield said on the day of the road jaunt Halliwell had been drinking two glasses of wine whilst consuming a large bowl of pasta for an evening meal over a period of an hour and a half.
During the meal she trawled the internet and spotted the children's slide being advertised for sale.
"She makes the decision that she will go and get it," the solicitor said. "It was evening, it was dark. She gets in the car and takes her son with her because there is nobody else to look after him.
"She is the sole carer. She felt fine and fit to drive.
"She describes getting lost. It is dark. She is then flustered. And in a flustered state she concedes she may have been weaving.
"She described how her son drops his bottle. She turned to pick it up, again causing issues with the manner of her driving.
"When stopped and spoken to, she struggles to provide a roadside sample of breath and again struggles to provide at the police station. Unfortunately, she had an ulcer and a hole in her mouth and she was in receipt of medication at that time."
Miss Moorfield added that Halliwell was suffering from depression, anxiety and PTSD, and had been struggling with the loss of her brother.
"They do not excuse her actions on March 19 or on May 9. She knows that. She just wanted the court to be aware of her personal mitigation, that she's not been in the best headspace or thinking clearly, and that she has not been getting any help with her anxiety and depression and the distress in her life.
"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, particularly as she is a sole carer for him."
Magistrates sentenced Halliwell to 140 hours of unpaid work and ordered that she participate with 25 rehabilitation activity days with the probation service and pay £265 in costs and victim surcharge. She was offered the drink-drive awareness course which will reduce the ban by a quarter.
"We have read with some understanding your heartfelt letter of apology," Chairman James Fisher said. "However, for these offences we're going to give you a higher-level community order."
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