Drink-drive mum smiles after judge spares her jail sentence over horror crash because she has children
Natalie Wood, 33, was nearly four times over the limit when she lost control of her car
A DRINK-DRIVING mum smirked as a judge spared her a jail sentence because she has children.
Natalie Wood, 33, was nearly four times over the limit when she flipped her car just three weeks after a previous drink-drive ban was lifted.
She ended upside down after her Honda CR-V SUV landed on its roof along a dual carriageway and had to be cut free by firefighters on August 29.
No other cars were involved but a blood sample taken in hospital showed the 33-year-old had 296mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood - way over the 80mg legal limit.
Wood, who is also known as Natalie Frankham, said she had stopped drinking around 4am - 12 hours before the smash at 4pm.
She had driven to the shops and her GP surgery before losing control but told cops she remembered little of the incident and denied she had a drink problem.
Wood had only just finished serving a 28-month driving ban on August 7 after being convicted of drink driving in March 2016.
Chair of the bench Gill Fryzer sitting at Maidstone Magistrates' Court said: "It's only by the grace of God that no one was killed on that road.
"How you didn't kill somebody or yourself and leave your children without a mother we don't know."
Wood from Stockbury, near Maidstone, was given a 56-day prison sentence, suspended for two years and banned from the road for 45 months.
Ms Fryzer said: "We're not going to impose immediate custody only because of the impact it would have on your young children.
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"We're not offering you the drink-driving rehabilitation course as you've recently taken one and it clearly doesn't have the required effect.
"You don't believe you have a problem with alcohol, quite clearly it is a problem for you as it's disrupted your life really badly twice now."
Wood was ordered to pay £200 in costs, she must also carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and complete 45 rehabilitation activity sessions in the next two years.
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