A WOMAN with a record for drink and drug driving who made off from the scene of a crash has avoided an immediate jail sentence.

Louise Barton, of Horsey Mere Gardens, Sutton Heath, appeared at Liverpool, Knowsley and St Helens Magistrates' Court.

Barton, 38, had in a previous hearing been convicted of driving a Mercedes Benz on Lowther Crescent with a proportion of a controlled drug, Benzoylecgonine,a metabolite of cocaine, in her blood in excess of the limit on November 1, 2020.

She had also been convicted of driving with excess alocohol in her system on the same date.

She had also been convicted of using threatening words or behaviour on November 2, 2020 in Liverpool.

Meanwhile, 14 months later, Barton crashed the Mercedes into two stationary vehicles in Sutton Heath Road on the morning of Saturday, January 15 this year and drove off from the scene.

She had pleaded guilty to failing to stop after an accident and failing to provide a specimen for analysis.

The 38-year-old was given concurrent 12-week jail sentences, suspended for 12 months for the driving offences.

She was made to pay £400 in costs to the Crown Prosecution Service for drug driving, and fined £50 for the threatening behaviour.

Barton was also disqualified from driving for three years and given an electronic tag curfew for eight weeks.

She must also do up to 10 days of rehabilitation activity.