A corporate lawyer who blamed a friend's homemade herbal tea after she was caught four times over the drink-driving limit has been freed from jail after winning an appeal.

Louise Taylor, 41,

A corporate lawyer who blamed a friend's homemade herbal tea after she was caught four times over the drink-driving limit has been freed from jail after winning an appeal.

Louise Taylor, 41, from Sandbach, Cheshire, successfully challenged her ten-week sentence imposed on October 8 at Llandudno magistrates' court. 

The £66,000-a-year solicitor had shared a bottle of red wine with a friend before she was given the 'disgusting' Kombucha drink. 

Louise Taylor, 41, from Sandbach, Cheshire, successfully challenged her ten-week drink-driving sentence 

But her lawyers claimed the wrong type of yeast - a brewer's variety - had been used in the drink, making it alcoholic. 

She said she downed 'two glasses' of the tea before taking a water bottle, which was filled up with the homemade liquid, on the road with her.

A police officer who followed Ms Taylor said the lawyer had 'slurred speech', was 'unsteady' on her feet and her eyes were 'red and glazed'. 

Ms Taylor (Above) was caught four times over the drink-drive limit in her Range Rover after downing  at least 'two glasses' of her friend's home-made Kombucha tea

She admitted driving her 4x4 on the A55 dual carriageway between Holywell and St Asaph with a breath-alcohol count of 135. The legal limit is 35. 

But after her appeal, judge David Hale, sitting with two magistrates at Mold crown court, said it had been a stressful time for Taylor. 

Her late mother had been in a care home for 13 months and receiving end of life support.

Taylor was due to see her for the first time in 13 months during the pandemic. 'All three of us take the view we would have suspended the sentence because she has no previous convictions. There's no history of alcoholism,' Judge Hale said.

The crown court hadn't heard arguments about the fermented drink, unlike the original court when she tried to dodge a ban. 

Taylor had said her pal had told her the herbal drink was good for gut health. 'I didn't believe it was alcoholic,' she said previously. 

The prosecution said she had nearly collided with wagons while overtaking on the dual carriageway and was 'all over the road.'

'She must have known something was very wrong with her driving,' the judge remarked. She ignored the police car and blue lights for six miles. 'But there was no accident. In view of the problems there clearly are in her life, we would have suspended the sentence.'

Taylor had served 13 days in prison. The judge said the suspension of the remaining eight weeks would achieve no purpose. 'We allow the appeal and order her immediate release,' Judge Hale declared.

Kombucha is a refreshingly fizzy, slightly sour, fermented drink made from sweetened tea and is mostly non-alcoholic (file photo)

A 32 months ban was imposed which she can reduce by taking a drink-drivers' course.

Barrister Jade Tufail, for Taylor, told the judge that single Taylor was a successful solicitor with no previous convictions. Previously it was stated she took home more than £66,000-a-year.

Explaining her personal life situation, counsel added: 'All she had left was her career.' 

The court previously heard how Taylor's friend had been so 'horrified' when she found out there was alcohol in the drink that she poured the 'vital' remaining liquid evidence down the sink.

The court chairman Graham Edwards described her account as 'odd.'

Ms Taylor said her friend Angela brewed the drink using yeast and mushrooms and didn't know the drink was alcoholic, too, at the time.

'I'm not a massive drinker at all,' the general counsel and company secretary for a bank, had insisted in evidence.

The court previously heard how Taylor's friend had been so 'horrified' when she found out there was alcohol in the drink that she poured the 'vital' remaining liquid evidence down the sink.

The court chairman Graham Edwards described her account as 'odd.'

A PC, who followed the white Range Rover Sport for six miles, using blue lights and siren to try and stop it, said it had been drifting on the hard shoulder and nearly collided with a number of wagons while overtaking.

A bottle in the vehicle was half full of a liquid which smelled of alcohol. 

Ms Taylor, who said she was 'head of legal', described how she had met a friend at Knutsford in the morning to take their dogs for a walk. She then went for lunch in a hotel restaurant and shared a bottle of wine.

She had stopped to see her friend Angela at Connah's Quay on the way to Abergele. 

Ms Taylor said she had been diagnosed with Coeliac disease, affecting the gut.

She said her friend wouldn't knowingly give her alcohol and she had at least two glasses of the Kombucha - also drank from a water bottle containing it as she drove. 

She had also taken four antihistamines for hayfever that day and started feeling unwell.

Ms Taylor said she took the drink 'in good faith' and maintained: 'I didn't knowingly drink and drive.'

A probation officer said there was still 'some minimisation' of the offence by Ms Taylor who separated from her partner last year. 

She was currently living at Abergele in a house inherited following the loss of her mother and intended to sell her Cheshire property. The officer said Ms Taylor insisted she 'rarely' drinks.