A woman who drove 50 miles on a highway while intoxicated with her 15-month-old son in the back of her BMW has evaded prison time.
Bernadette Halliwell, age 31, was stopped on the M6 at the Keele services in Staffordshire during the evening rush hour for weaving across the roadway.
The court heard that Halliwell was on her way to purchase her kid a slide she seen on the internet when she was pulled over.
The mother of one, a caretaker from Kearsley, Bolton, was held on suspicion of driving under the influence, but she failed a breath test at the roadside because she did not blow correctly into the machine.
She then confessed drinking wine prior to her drive and claimed she had only been driving erratically because she had become lost and ‘flustered,’ briefly taking her eyes off the road to retrieve her son’s spilled baby bottle.
Following the incident, Halliwell was compelled to appear in court and issued a temporary driving prohibition.
However, she was later found driving the same BMW 116 while subject to a driving restriction and presented her sister’s identity as the driver in an attempt to evade consequences.
Halliwell pled guilty at Wigan magistrates court to failing to produce a breath sample, being drunk in charge of a child, driving while prohibited, and driving without insurance.
The single mother was forced to undergo a two-year community order and was barred from driving for 18 months. She was spared prison time.
The prosecutor, Miss Parveen Akhtar, said, “On March 19, at 6:20 p.m., police became aware of a BMW driving recklessly on the M56.” Numerous phone calls were made to the police control room.
A half-hour later, police discovered the BMW northbound on the M6 near Keele services, and her driving style led them to assume she was driving under the influence.
‘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.
Halliwell was then issued an interim driving prohibition in April, but was detained again at 9 a.m. on May 9, according to the court.
According to the prosecution, an officer at Eccles Police Station ‘received information’ that a BMW was being driven by a female who had been handed an interim disqualification.
‘The officer sees the vehicle driven across his way,’ Ms Akhtar said, ‘He stopped the vehicle and approached the 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 ten offences, including from 2009, 2010 and 2017 for motoring offences.
Her lawyer, Karen Moorfield, said of the initial event that 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 spotted a children’s slide being advertised for sale on the internet.
‘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 went on to say that Halliwell was suffering from depression, anxiety, and PTSD, as well as grieving the death of her brother.
‘They do not excuse her actions on the 19th March or on 9th of May. 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.’