Driving ban for singer's mother

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/south_west/8234209.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The mother of Sound of Music star Connie Fisher has been banned from driving for three years and ordered to undertake 150 hours unpaid work.

Janet Fisher was found guilty of failing to give a breath test when suspected of drink-driving last week.

She pleaded guilty to a second charge when she appeared before Carmarthen Magistrates Court for sentencing.

The 61-year-old of Llangynog in Carmarthenshire was also told to attend an alcohol rehabilitation course.

She had denied the first charge of refusing to give a breath test but was found guilty by magistrates.

They heard police called at her home after receiving a report that she had smelled of alcohol at a local garage.

Fisher told officers she drunk wine after her daughter told her not to visit her.

It was claimed she had to be handcuffed after struggling and shouting when police called.

Fisher claimed the reason she failed to give a breath test was that she was "assaulted and manhandled", leaving her shaken and distressed.

She told police during an interview that she had drunk a bottle-and-a-half of wine due to feeling down because her stage star daughter had told her not to visit her in Glasgow that weekend.

But she said she only started drinking once she returned from the petrol station.

On Wednesday, the court heard the second offence happened when she refused a breath test at Llanelli police station after her car crashed into a lamppost and tree in her home village.

Her recently-engaged daughter, Connie, 26, won TV's How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria.