A SOLICITOR who was nearly three times the drink drive limit when she crashed into another car at a roundabout has been ordered to do 18-months community work and disqualified for 28 months.

Helen Brunton, 46, from Easingwold, went straight over a roundabout York Crown Court was told crashing into another car. Judge Adrian Lower said it was a very sad case, that Brunton had suffered domestic abuse over a period of time and put up with it for far too long. He added: "You chose to cope by drinking so much, to the point where you were drinking too much."

Brunton who is not now working as a solicitor pleaded guilty to drink driving. She said she had not drunk since the evening before the crash and had had help from IDAS, Yorkshire's biggest domestic abuse charity. She said she was living on benefits and trying to find a job. Brunton was ordered to pay a £95 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.