A DRINK-DRIVER has escaped a jail sentence after a judge heard she suffered at the hands of her bullying husband.

Carole Hill was sentenced to four months by Kidderminster magistrates after being convicted of driving while unfit through drink, failing to provide a blood specimen and driving while banned.

But Judge Marten Coates substituted a 12-month probation order when she appealed at Worcester Crown Court against the sentence imposed last May.

Hill, aged 49, of Park Street, Kidderminster, was said by Mr Tariq Shakoor, for the Crown, to have driven erratically to Heathfield School, Wolverley, in July last year.

School secretary Jean Hunt saw Hill's Vauxhall Frontera clip the kerb in Wolverley Road and then straddle the white line. She thought the vehicle was going to crash at any moment but it entered the school gates and came to a halt.

After Hill's 11-year-old daughter got out, school gardener Harry Shepherd tried to grab the ignition keys but the Frontera was driven off.

Workmen near her home saw the car go up the drive and then roll backwards into a line of trees.

Hill, given a positive breath test by police, denied she had been driving.

Miss Mary Loram, defending, said Hill had suffered physical abuse from her husband. She handed in photographs which depicted Hill as "unrecognisable."

Apart from her domestic problems, she blamed the erratic driving on back problems.

Judge Coates said an aggravating feature was driving under the influence of drink at peak school time.

He recognised her domestic situation but warned that if she did not co-operate with the probation order she could expect to serve the four months in jail.