A CARE worker lost her job after she was found to be more than two-and-a-half times the drink drive limit, a court heard.

Susan Dewe, of Ffordd Y Bont in Treuddyn, appeared at Mold Magistrates Court on Thursday.

The 57-year-old admitted that she drove a Peugeot motor vehicle on Hawarden Road in Caergwrle after consuming so much alcohol that the proportion of it in her breath exceeded the prescribed limit.

She was found to have 94 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the limit being 35.

Justin Espie said police received a tipoff about a suspected drink driver. Officers located and stopped the vehicle in question, with Dewe being the driver.

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She gave a positive roadside sample and was subsequently charged.

In mitigation, the court heard the offence represented the first time Dewe had troubled the courts or the police and she had immediately stopped and complied with officers.

She "fully accepts" the offences, which were described as "out of character," and offered the court profuse apologies for her actions.

The court heard she was working as a care practitioner, but has "now lost that line of work."

District Judge Paul Conlon acknowledged the offence had already had some considerable effect on the defendant by way of her loss of employment, and considered her a person of previous good character.

He said for someone "nearly three times the legal limit," he would have considered a community sentence - but following input from the probation service, he was able to draw back and impose a financial penalty instead.

Dewe was handed a £200 fine and ordered to pay an £80 surcharge and £80 costs.

She was banned from driving for 24 months.

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