A PECULIARLY pungent Suffolk punch nearly landed a Felixstowe woman in jail.The explosive cocktail of wine, brandy, whisky, vodka, gin and rum was topped up with a horse draught – giving it too much punch for 56-year-old Cynthia Airey.

A PECULIARLY pungent Suffolk punch nearly landed a Felixstowe woman in jail.

The explosive cocktail of wine, brandy, whisky, vodka, gin and rum was topped up with a horse draught – giving it too much punch for 56-year-old Cynthia Airey.

Stunned magistrates heard Airey knocked-back German horse restoration fluid in the powerful punch, leaving her nearly four times the legal limit when police stopped her car later.

But a baffled Newmarket horse vet told the Evening Star he had never heard of the mystery tipple.

He said it was more likely to be a horse Lucozade than an alcoholic brew and speculated it was the spirits which left Airey blowing alcoholic fumes into the breathalyser.

Graham Skippen, representing Airey at South-East Suffolk Magistrates Court, said his client had no idea how potent the punch was.

But he admitted she knew it was alcoholic and that was why she admitted the drunk driving offence.

He said: "Cynthia Airey has been petrified about these proceedings. She's been watching Bad Girls and wondering if they have a uniform to fit her."

Mr Skippen said when the man who poured the punch found it all very amusing when he spoke to him about Airey's case.

Magistrates accepted Airey's explanation and told she was lucky to avoid a jail term for the size of the reading.

Prosecutor Gareth Davies had earlier told the court how police had stopped Airey, of Rubens Road, at about 3pm on September 12.

He said a member of the public had rung police reporting a Suzuki Vitara being driven erratically in Felixstowe.

Police spotted the car and discovered an obviously drunk Airey at the wheel.

When breathalysed she gave a reading of 123 microgrammes of alcohol per 100ml of breath – nearly four times the legal limit.

Magistrates told the unemployed cleaner their sentence reflected the unusual circumstances.

They said: "We are sentencing you on the basis of a lower reading rather than the prison term which could have been considered for this high reading."

Airey was disqualified from driving for 12 months, fined £100 and ordered to pay £55 costs.