Drink driver Victoria Parry, 30, is pictured outside Warwick Crown Court yesterday

A female judge who spared a drink-driver prison 'because she was a woman' is being investigated by judicial authorities.

Judge Sarah Buckingham is facing the probe over comments she made while sentencing dangerous driver Victoria Parry.

A spokesman for the independent Judicial Conduct Investigations Office said: 'The JCIO confirms it has received a complaint in connection with remarks attributed to HHJ Buckingham today.

'Complaints to the JCIO are considered under the regulations.'

Parry avoided a custodial sentence despite several previous convictions.

Judge Buckingham warned Parry, who works for the budget store B&M Bargains, that if she had been a man 'it would have been straight down the stairs' to prison.

The court heard the alcoholic was driving her Fiat Stilo when she ploughed into three vehicles before crashing into a ditch where her car burst into flames.

She was dragged from the burning wreck by other drivers after she crashed on the A46 near Stratford-upon-Avon on May 23 last year shortly before 7pm.

Parry, a shop employee who lives near Stratford-upon-Avon with her grandparents and has no children, already had two previous convictions for drink driving when she appeared at court yesterday.

Parry had 102mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath - almost three times the legal limit of 35mcg. She admitted dangerous driving and her sentence was deferred.

Judge Sarah Buckingham (pictured) said at Warwick Crown Court yesterday that if Parry had been a man 'it would have been straight down the stairs' to prison

Judge Sarah Buckingham said: 'If Miss Parry was a man, there is no question it would have been straight down the stairs, because this is a shocking case of dangerous driving against a background of two previous convictions for excess alcohol.

'But this offence was committed in May 2018 and she has not been in trouble since.

Judge who previously let off a child porn offender and blasted a 'misogynistic' father Sarah Jayne Buckingham was appointed to be a circuit judge by the Queen three years ago. The 54-year-old was called to the bar in 1991 before becoming a recorder in October 2009. She was deployed to the Midland Circuit, based at Nottingham Crown Court, in October 2016. The judge also let a Nottingham bus driver off with a three-year community order in May 2018 after he admitted child pornography offences. Craig Wedge, 26, had been caught with a video of a girl's rape on his mobile phone, but the judge said he would have to 'address your offending in a way you may find uncomfortable'. In August 2017, the judge jailed a father for three years for beating his daughter - saying he was a 'controlling misogynist' who 'ruled through fear'. She said of the 50-year-old man: 'You don't like women very much and are a very traditional person who clearly thinks women should do what you want them to do, even your little girl.' Another recent case saw Judge Buckingham jail a teenager for 14 months in August 2018 after he stabbed a 19-year-old man in the leg in a fight in a Nottingham shopping mall. Sentencing Aziah McKenzie-McKenna, 18, she said it was 'heartbreaking' that young men carried knives as protection, but it was 'not the answer' and would only result in prison. Advertisement

'She has clearly got an alcohol problem. She is, whether she admits it or not, an alcoholic.'

Addressing Parry, the judge added: 'You richly deserve an immediate custodial sentence of 18 months. I want to see whether you can really address the issues rather than paying lip service.

'If you succeed, I will not make the custody immediate. If you don't comply, I will conclude that you are not worthy of the chance.'

The court heard Parry almost caused a major crash when she overtook into oncoming traffic before ploughing into three vehicles.

Tim Sapwell, prosecuting, said: 'Her driving was such that she caught the rear bumper of a van, and she next hit the wing mirror of a Vauxhall Insignia, and then the side of a BMW very heavily.

'She hit it with such force that the BMW's rear wheel was knocked off and the car was written off. It caused her Fiat to spin in the road and go down the embankment into a wooded area where it caught fire.'

Other drivers rushed to her aid, including an off-duty police inspector who released her from her seat belt and pulled her out of the burning car.

He noticed she smelled of alcohol, and Parry told him that she had had a bottle of wine, telling him: 'I shouldn't be driving.'

The court heard Parry had been banned from driving for three years in July 2015 for her second excess alcohol offence.

When Parry was arrested she took a breath test at the police station almost two hours later, the reading was only just under three times the legal limit of 35mcg per 100ml of breath.

Lucy Tapper, defending, said Parry started drinking up to two bottles of wine a day after being in an abusive relationship. She said: 'There is deep and genuine regret on her part.

Parry is a shop employee who lives in a home on this road near Stratford-upon-Avon

Having a crash presents its own consequences in terms of what you've done, and to have your car burst into flames is quite terrifying.

'She says she thought she was going to die. his has been a very salutary lesson to her.'

Sentencing guidelines on dangerous driving Dangerous driving falls under section two of the Road Traffic Act 1988. Prosecutors say it is committed when a person's standard of driving falls far below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver, and it would be obvious that driving in that way would be dangerous. It is an 'either way offence', meaning it carries a fine and/or six months in jail at a magistrates' court. In a crown court, the maximum punishment is two years in prison and an unlimited fine. Drivers must be disqualified for at least a year and take an extended retest. Advertisement

The judge set a various conditions for Parry and said that she would be sent to prison if she did not satisfy them.

They were to abstain from drinking all alcohol, to approach and go to a meeting such as with Alcoholics Anonymous, seek out private counselling, not to commit any further offences, not to drive and provide proof of employment.

Following the sentencing, a spokesman for road safety charity Brake said: 'Dangerous driving is a daily menace on our roads.

'When drivers take illegal and selfish actions such as drink driving, they knowingly put lives in danger.

'Repeat offenders are the most dangerous on our roads.

'They must be dealt with severely so that they no longer pose a threat to other road users and making it clear that this kind of dangerous behaviour by any driver will not be tolerated.'

Spokesmen for Ministry of Justice and the Judiciary both declined to comment.