A mother has been cleared of being drunk in charge of her two-year-old daughter after a court accepted her distressed state and a pierced tongue made her sound drunk.

The 26-year-old from Watford was taken down to the ground, handcuffed and put in the back of a police car after her estranged partner telephoned police to say he was worried about the safety of his daughter.

At Watford Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons and has been on bail restricting access to her child, was found not guilty by district judge Gill Allison.

Lynette Woodrow, prosecuting, called the child’s father and grandfather to give evidence.

The court was told earlier that day the woman and child’s father had rowed over the phone and the woman had threatened the grandfather that he would “never see his granddaughter again”.

The police were called on the evening of Monday, July 27, after the woman yelled a torrent of abuse and refused to let the concerned men into her Watford flat to see the child.

Before officers arrived she stormed out with the child in a baby buggy with several cans of cider she bought earlier in a plastic bag.

She was stopped by officers in a nearby street and taken into custody, while the child was handed to her father.

Taking to the witness box, the woman, who has since moved from the area, said she had been distressed due to recent bereavements.

She admitted having a couple of glasses of cider over a number of hours but denied being drunk.

She explained she sounded drunk while telephoning the grandfather due to talking fast when upset and a “tongue bar” she had since removed.

Responding to questions about her “slurred speech” from Cassan Lindsay, defending, she said: “I used to have a tongue bar.

“I have taken it out now because of the slurriness of it. It was a metal bar. It affected by speech when I tried to speak fast and because I was upset maybe the words did not come out that clearly.”

Delivering the not guilty verdict, district judge Allison said: “To convict you I have to be satisfied you were drunk.

“You have given an explanation that you were emotionally upset and an explanation that your speech was slurred through a tongue piercing.

“You accept your behaviour was aggressive and abusive, but I have to be sure that was because you were drunk.

“There is considerable room for doubt in my mind and you are entitled to that doubt and therefore I dismiss the matter against you.”