A Kilgetty woman crashed into a ditch while driving home the morning after drinks with a friend, a court has heard.

Pauline Maura Fearne, of Hill Rise, Pentlepoir, pleaded guilty to driving while over the legal alcohol limit when she appeared before Haverfordwest magistrates court on Tuesday.

Abul Hussain, prosecuting, told the court that police received a call about a single vehicle collision on an unclassified road between Jeffreyston and Pentlepoir on March 5.

They found Fearne, 47, in the driver’s seat of her Vauxhall Astra which was stuck in a ditch. She appeared to be asleep and smelled of intoxicants.

Fearne, who was previously of clean character, was found to have 89mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, the legal limit is 35mg.

Mike Kelleher, defending, said: “This was a disastrous decision that she took to drive, even though it was on quiet back roads.”

He added that Fearne had received bad news the previous night, as the sale of her property had fallen through.

“She had some alcohol with a friend and the following morning, when she thought she was fit to drive, she drove on the back roads home. Her vehicle ended up in a ditch.”

The bench heard that Fearne had not attempted to flee the scene, despite an offer of being towed out by a tractor, and remained in her car to wait for the police.

Mr Kelleher said Fearne would find it difficult to continue her work within an IT company, specialising in providing software to transport businesses, without a driving licence.

Fearne was fined £500 and banned from driving for 22 months. She was also ordered to pay £135 in costs and a surcharge.