Beautician mum hit 105mph on Leeds ring road and drove the wrong way while high on cocaine

Trained beautician Adele Rowland crossed the central reservation and drove into oncoming traffic for around 200 metres before re-joining the correct side.

The 28-year-old had attended a party earlier that evening and police tried to pull her over on the A64 at around 2.20am on March 26 last year when they spotted her blue Mazda 3 swerving.

Rowland slowed down and move to the side of the road as if she was appearing to stop, but then accelerated away.

Onboard camera footage from the police car was played to Leeds Crown Court which showed her reaching 105mph in a 40mph zone on the A58, then turning onto Hollin Park Road where she drove at 50mph through the residential area.

The chase, which last around four-and-a-half minutes, only came to an end when the pursuing police car made “tactical contact” with the back of the Mazda and sent it into a spin. Rowland was found to have a small quantity of cocaine on her and also tested positive.

She admitted dangerous driving, possession of cocaine and two counts of being over the drug-drive limit, including cocaine and the benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine.

Mitigating, Adrian Pollard said that Rowland, of Langbar Approach, Swarcliffe, had moved out of home at the age of 14 and was estranged from her family.

He said she had suffered domestic abuse in the past, but now lived with her six-year-old daughter and despite training to be a beautician, was on benefits.

She previously told a probation officer that she simply “panicked” when the police tried to pull her over, having taken cocaine earlier in the night.

He said: “She seems to have shouldered all sorts of difficulties. She accepts she has to pay a price for what she did. She’s not stupid and recognises what she has done.”

The judge, Recorder Olivia Checa-Dover told her: “It was highly dangerous driving. Your speed was grossly over the limit. It’s by luck alone that no-one, including yourself was seriously hurt.”

She gave her 12 months’ jail, suspended for 18 months, 50 rehabilitation days and banned her from driving for 12 months.