A mum who led police on a 90mph chase with her two young children in the back of her BMW has been spared jail.
Tegan Bulley, 29, overtook an unmarked police car on the outskirts of Southampton before speeding off, blasting through red lights and accelerating along the wrong side of the road.
Police officers quickly gave chase as the mum went through residential streets, hitting speed bumps at 70mph before almost losing control.
Neither of her kids was in child seats during the "appalling' incident", a court heard.
Police lost Tegan in the chase but they eventually tracked her down.
She gave a false name to officers and claimed her white BMW 3 series had been stolen, before later pleading guilty to one charge of dangerous driving.
Bulley wept as she avoided an immediate prison sentence at Southampton Crown Court, Hants.
Judge Brian Forster QC handed her an eight-month sentence but suspended it for 15 months, before disqualifying her from driving for a year.
Siobhan Linsley, prosecuting, told the court police in an unmarked car first spotted Bulley speeding at about 7pm on Friday in January last year.
She said: "At the time the police car itself was going 40mph on a 40mph road - the maximum speed - when they were overtaken by a white BMW.
"The police accelerated to keep up with her and the vehicle was doing 50mph at that point."
Bulley was seen slowing down for a speed camera before accelerating again and heading towards the town centre of Totton at 40mph while in a 30mph zone.
The court heard police pursued Bulley through the 30mph residential area, as she pulled into other roads and T junctions "without any hesitation".
Ms Linsley said at one point Bulley, of Southampton, was driving at speeds of up to 70mph over speed bumps.
Police continued to chase the BMW, which now reached speeds of 90mph, back to the A336, where Bulley drove through a red light and moved on to the wrong side of the road.
Ms Linsley said Bulley briefly pulled over and a man got out and ran off, before again "pulling away, accelerating to 60 to 70mph on a 30mph road" and entering a roundabout on the wrong side of the road "without stopping to check for traffic".
Police stopped chasing the car following concerns the BMW was not going to stop and decided to continue their hunt in a slower patrol.
Police later pointed to the car and saw a woman nearby walking two young children in their nightwear but didn't stop them.
Ms Linsley said in court that CCTV showed this woman exiting the car with the two children, proving all three were passengers during the high-speed chase.
The court heard the children were aged just five and eight and there were no child car seats in the BMW.
When police found the BMW, Bulley was sat in the back and gave the false name of Amy Greaves to the officers before admitting her real name.
She denied driving the car and said she had just been at a party and was getting a lift home.
When interviewed by police, Bulley said she was "at a friend's house when she realised her car keys had gone missing".
When asked why she gave a false name, she said she didn't want to be a "grass".
Bulley pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at her first court appearance.
Khalid Missouri, defending, told Southampton Crown Court: "This is an appalling level of driving and a very serious matter.
"She's a single mother who lives with two children who aren't straight-forward children."
Mr Missouri said at the time Bulley driving she was in a long term relationship that became "quite controlling".
Mr Missouri said: "That man was in the car with the two children. She didn't realise it at the time but he was wanted by the police.
"She attempted to stop but before she could he shouted at her to drive on and started to make threats about her children being taken away from her if she stopped."
Judge Forster QC, sentencing, said: "You caused considerable risk to members of the community.
"You drove on the wrong side of the road, you drove through a red light and in reality you were doing everything in your power to get away from the police.
"You had two children in the car aged five and eight, they were not restrained as they should have been.
"This is a very bad case of dangerous driving."
However, he decided to suspend the sentence because he deemed she was "vulnerable" to the other man in the car who got out and ran off.
She was ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and 20 days with the probation service and also ordered to pay £10 a month for a year.
