A woman who drove when over five times the drink limit has been spared jail.

Louise Jarvis, 47, was given a 16-week suspended sentence and banned from driving for three years after a breath test showed she had 195 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

Police said the test was one of the highest ever recorded in Sussex - the legal limit is 35mg.

Jarvis, of Springfield Road, Bexhill, was caught when a member of public reported her driving her silver Nissan Almera the wrong way down a one-way street in the Sidley area of Bexhill.

She was convicted of drink-driving and driving without a licence at Hastings Magistrates’ Court.

PC Steve Dessouki-Harman from Sussex Police's road policing unit at Polegate said: "She has shown absolute contempt for the safety of other road users and we welcome the sentence that magistrates have handed down.

"Despite high profile campaigns by the Force and our partners in the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership, there are those who still consider it acceptable to drive under the influence of alcohol and the results can be devastating.

“Offenders, such as this woman, will be robustly dealt with.”