A MUM rushed home to feed her cat but then drank a bottle of wine she found in a cupboard and crashed her car into a tree, a court heard.

Alcoholic Alexandra Hothersall had been looking after her two sons while their father was away on Sunday, May 29, when she realised she needed to go home to feed her cat.

The court heard the 43-year-old drove to her house in Milton Road, Sutton Courtenay, where she found a bottle of wine she had stashed in a cupboard.

She drank the wine before getting back in her car to go and continue looking after her children.

Prosecutor Clare Barclay told Oxford Magistrates' Court yesterday how Hothersall crashed her car into a tree in Lady Place along the way.

Hothersall immediately admitted to police she had been drink driving and a breathalyser test found she had 104 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The limit is 35 microgrammes.

Ms Barclay said: "Prior to going to the police station she did say 'I made a big mistake, I was stupid, I only drove home to feed my cat'."

Jayne Wilkinson, defending, said her client was a functioning alcoholic who had been abstinent for five months before discovering the bottle of wine that evening.

She added: "She has a normal and a positive life, albeit one marred by mental health issues and severe liver damage – both directly resulting from drinking.

"On the day she had been to church."

Magistrates adjourned sentencing Hothersall for three weeks so the Probation Service could compile a pre-sentence report into her.

Hothersall, who wept quietly in the dock during the short hearing, was released on unconditional bail to return to the same court on July 5.