A drunk Ipswich driver who recorded “an incredibly high reading” for alcohol has been jailed for more than nine months.

Harriet Eade, 28, was more than five times the legal limit when she was caught by police in a Volkswagen Golf on Monday, magistrates heard.

Police received information about the manner of driving of a motorist, who was wearing a pink top, along the Orwell Bridge around 10.30am, Lesla Small, prosecuting, told Suffolk Magistrates’ Court.

Officers saw the Golf, with a driver fitting the description, travelling in the opposite direction at the Nacton interchange, and then turned round to follow the car.

When police caught up with the car, it was stationary and there was glass on the road which indicated an accident.

Officers said Eade was just about to drive away from the scene when they arrived, and she was subsequently arrested, Ms Small told the court.

Eade tested positive for alcohol at the roadside and then blew 183 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath at the police station. The legal limit is 35mcg in 100ml of breath.

Appearing before magistrates on Tuesday via video link from Martlesham Police Investigation Centre, Eade, of Thurleston Lane, Ipswich, pleaded guilty to drink driving.

The conviction also put Eade in breach of a suspended sentence which was imposed by Buckinghamshire Magistrates’ Court on February 18 this year for theft by employee.

Joanna Paton, defending, said: “She realises that it was an incredibly high reading but she is a young woman of 28, so that poses the question, ‘what is going on with her?’

“She suffers with depression and takes medication but admits that she ran out a couple of weeks ago and has not yet ordered more.

“She lost her job as a result of the conviction in February and moved back in with her father.

“She knows that she needs to get her medication back on track for her depression.”

Magistrates said it was “one of the highest readings seen in court” and sentenced Eade to 14 weeks in prison for drink driving.

They also activated the suspended sentence which means Eade will serve six months to run consecutively with the 14 weeks.

She was also banned from driving for five years and will not be eligible to get her licence back until March 2026.

Acting Inspector Pete Partridge, of the roads and armed policing team, said: “I am completely shocked by the level of alcohol Harriet Eade had in her system. To get behind the wheel of a car when more than five times the legal alcohol limit is absolutely astounding.

“Within the roads and armed policing team, we see the devastation brought about by drink driving and I welcome the sentence passed down by magistrates.”