Tormented mum Karen Wetherell set out to commit suicide after losing her baby.

Wetherell, 36, tried to drive her smart BMW over the edge of the Dunton flyover on Southend Arterial Road, Basildon.

She escaped unhurt, despite writing off the car. Lumps of concrete from the flyover cascaded over the side.

It littered the road, causing traffic mayhem and several minor accidents, police officers told Basildon magistrates.

Wetherell, who has four other children, denied drink-driving, failing to stop after an accident and failing to report it.

The court heard that Wetherell, of High Road, Laindon, had a lovers' tiff with her boyfriend after several drinks of vodka and tonic.

She prepared herself for bed, but became very depressed about the argument and losing the baby after seven weeks.

She drove to Dunton and accelerated when she got near the top of the flyover. She smashed the front of the car beyond repair.

As she staggered from the wreck, she waved down a minibus. Passenger Mark Phillpot told how he saw her wearing only a dressing gown and slippers.

He said she kept saying she had lost her baby and had quarrelled with her boyfriend.

Mr Phillpot said that, shortly afterwards, another driver took Wetherell to her boyfriend's home and advised her to tell police her car had been stolen.

To make her story convincing he ripped the radio out of the BMW and was never seen again, Wetherell told magistrates.

She also claimed she had several small vodkas before the accident, but when she later returned to her boyfriend's he poured her a large vodka and tonic.

As a result, when the police breathalysed her later at his home, she was over the limit, she added.

Wetherell, who has no previous convictions, said she and her boyfriend had since ended their stormy relationship.

She was found guilty of drink-driving by the magistrates and banned from motoring for 18 months. She was also fined £150 with £150 costs.

Wetherell was cleared of the two other driving charges.

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