A BREWERY boss's high-flying career ended in ruins after he was caught drink-driving - and last night he was beginning a jail sentence.

David Beecroft was so drunk he could barely stand the first time he was stopped by police, after his car was seen swerving across the road.

But three months later, he was again over the limit when he was stopped after leaving a function at the Castle Eden Brewery in County Durham, where he has been a director since a management buy-out two years ago.

Yesterday, the 41-year-old, who has already lost his job, was jailed for four months after admitting two charges of drink-driving.

Richmond Magistrates heard how Beecroft was seen veering across the A66 near Darlington in his Toyota Land Cruiser in March.

Jane Cook, prosecuting, said the car was later seen parked by the side of the road at Skeeby, near Richmond, with Beecroft in the driving seat and the engine still running.

She said: "A police officer asked the driver if he was all right and the driver mumbled a response that was unintelligible and badly slurred. He tried to stand up but was so unsteady on his feet that he couldn't stand.

"He appeared to have difficulty focusing and couldn't say anything that was coherent."

Blood tests found Beecroft was almost three-and-a-half times the drink-drive limit.

Beecroft was stopped three months later after an anonymous tip-off and tests showed he was more than one-and-a-half times the limit.

Beecroft, of Mill Lane, Richmond, was jailed for four months, and banned from driving for four years, reduced to three if he undertook a drink-drivers' rehabilitation course.

Alan Meehan, in mitigation, said Beecroft's only recollection of the first incident was waking up in hospital, covered in bruises as if he had been assaulted. This was the first time his client realised he had a drink problem and he had since started therapy.

Mr Meehan said the second incident came after a function at the brewery, when Beecroft drank three or four pints.

Under the terms of his contract, Beecroft might have to sell his £200,000 stake in the brewery for £150,000, when it could be worth millions following an offer from a housing developer