THE loss of a prized Crufts-winning dog was on a woman's mind when she took to the wheel of her car after drinking, a court heard.

Liz Cudlip, 40, was seen driving erratically through Easington Village, County Durham, by police on December 3.

As police followed, her car was seen clipping a kerb and then, when she tried to pull up, it twice began rolling downhill.

Debra Jones, prosecuting, told Peterlee magistrates that Cudlip jostled an officer who tried removing her car keys, before swearing and abusing him as she was breathalysed.

The reading of 113 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood was more than three times the legal limit of 35mg.

Martin Scarborough, for Cudlip, said she was a well-known dog trainer who was distraught at the loss of a Crufts-winning bassett hound a few days earlier.

"That particularly upset her and was on her mind, compounded by the death of one of her best friends," said Mr Scarborough.

Mr Scarborough said on the night she was pulled up by police she had been drinking at a pub in Cold Hesledon, near Seaham, County Durham, where a fight began.

A man she was with was threatened with a baseball bat, so she drove him away in a car she had parked at the pub with no intention of getting behind the wheel.

Cudlip, of Dene Villas, Horden, east Durham, admitted driving with excess alcohol and was given a three-year driving ban.

She was ordered to do 100-hours' unpaid work as part of a 12-month community order, and pay £43 costs.

* The Northern Echo reported recently how Cudlip was reunited with Honey, the missing bassett hound, after it was found by a dog warden shivering under a tree in a field near his house a few days after she reported its loss.