Victoria Parry, who was spared jail for drink driving because she is a woman - Paul Beard / SWNS

A serial drunk driver who ploughed into three cars after drinking a bottle of wine was spared jail by a judge who said she should not be behind bars because she is a woman.

Victoria Parry, 30, was told that if she had been a man "it would have been straight down the stairs" to prison.

But Judge Sarah Buckingham said she should be given another chance to give up drinking and get her life in order.

Parry was driving her Fiat Stilo when she hit three vehicles on the A46 near Stratford-upon-Avon before crashing into a ditch, where her car burst into flames, on May 23 last year.

The shop manager from Stratford-upon-Avon, who has two previous convictions for drunk driving, admitted dangerous driving and was given a three month deferred sentence when she appeared at Warwick Crown Court yesterday.

Judge Buckingham told the court: "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. She has clearly got an alcohol problem. She is, whether she admits it or not, an alcoholic."

View photos Judge Sarah Buckingham Credit: Avalon.red More

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, ploughing into a van before hitting the wing mirror of a Vauxhall Insignia and the side of a BMW.

Prosecutor Tim Sapwell said: "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 Parry’s aid, including an off-duty police inspector who pulled her out of the burning car. Parry told him that she had drunk a bottle of wine, saying: "I shouldn't be driving."

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.

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

Lucy Tapper, defending, said Parry started drinking up to two bottles of wine a day after being caught up in an abusive relationship.

She said: "There is deep and genuine regret on her part. 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. This has been a very salutary lesson to her."

Miss Tapper added that Parry had now got her drinking under control, was out of the relationship and had stepped down from a management role but was now working her way back up.