A Meltham woman who drove after drinking was struggling to cope after her child was born prematurely, a court heard.

Rebecca Maden, of Broadlands, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen for analysis and driving without insurance.

She was stopped by police in the Chapel Hill area of Huddersfield town centre in the early hours of August 9.

At around 2.30am the officers indicated at her to stop because the BMW she was driving had no lights on.

While they were speaking with the 33-year-old they noticed that her breath smelt strongly of intoxicants.

She was asked to give a roadside breath test but failed to complete it and was arrested.

When the police station testing machine failed to work Maden was given the chance to give a blood sample.

But she refused, claiming that she had a fear of needles, and could not give an alternative sample of urine.

Erica Topham, mitigating, said that her client was forced to have an emergency Caesarean section when her first baby was born prematurely at 27 weeks.

Maden’s son was born in May and was only released from hospital a week ago, Kirklees magistrates heard.

Mrs Topham said: “She’d been extremely down and was on a lot of medication for the pain. One of her friends persuaded her to go out for the night to make her more happy.”

Magistrates were told that Maden’s boyfriend let her borrow his car that night and she wrongly believed that she was insured on it.

After drinking four half pints of lager she headed home.

As she left the brightly lit car park she thought that the vehicle’s lights would come on automatically, but this feature had been switched off.

Mrs Topham added: “She has asthma and believes that is why it was not giving a reading at the roadside. Then she was asked to give blood. She’s gone though so much surgery and needles that she has a fear of them at this point”.

Magistrates ordered a report from probation staff before sentencing her.