A WOMAN who led police on a 125 mph chase through North Yorkshire has been allowed to keep her freedom.

Banned driver Emma Anne Thompson, 31, drove over a garden in a village and forced an HGV to nearly hit a cyclist as the lorry driver took evading action during the lengthy pursuit, said Elizabeth Noble, prosecuting.

The chase only ended when police deployed two stingers to deflate her tyres on the A6055.

A blood test revealed she had cannabis in her body, York Crown Court heard.

Hearing her claims that her passenger had made her keep driving and how her mental state had caused her to behave out of character, the Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told her: “It’s all ‘me, me, me’. What about the people you could have hurt?”

Defence barrister Anna Bond said Thompson's frail grandparents would suffer if she was jailed as she was her grandmother's carer.

She handed in a doctor's letter confirming the mental health problems had lasted for years and a document confirming the caring had started before the police chase.

The judge jailed Thompson for eight months but suspended it for 18 months on condition she observe a five-month daily curfew from 8pm to 6am. "It is not for you , it is for your grandparents." he told her.

Thompson, of High Street, New Sharlston, Wakefield, admitted dangerous driving, drug driving, driving whilst disqualified and without insurance. She was banned from driving for three years and will have to take an extended driving test before driving alone again.

Ms Noble said the chase began when Thompson overtook a police car at 100mph on the A1(M) northbound at 7.20pm on June 25.

She fled police on a country road, the A1(M), A66 (M) and A6055.