A DRINK driver had to be airlifted to hospital in Newcastle after being involved in a crash near Carlisle.

At the city's Rickergate Magistrates' Court, 49-year-old Lisa Green admitted the offence, committed a little over two years after she was twice convicted of the same offence.

Prosecutor Pam Ward said the latest offence came to light because the defendant, of Wether Hill Garth, Rockcliffe, was involved in a two-vehicle accident on the outskirts of the village on July 13.

Shortly before 5pm, the defendant was driving her Landrover Freelander from Kingstown towards Rockcliffe.

She was driving at excess speed, said Mrs Ward.

"She went off the road and into the grass verge at speed before careering into a wall on the boundary of residential premises," said the prosecutor.

She said the Freelander at one stage went into the opposing carriageway and the Mondeo driver, with nowhere to go, and there had been a head on collision with the defendant's car.

The other driver, while shaken, suffered only minor injuries.

But Green had to be airlifted to the RVI in Newcastle with a number of injuries. A blood test late confirmed that she had been just over twice the legal alcohol limit for driving. Mrs Ward added: "On February 9, 2016, she was convicted of two counts of driving with excess alcohol."

Rachel Dixon, for Green, said the defendant did not accept that she had caused the accident through the manner of her driving but she did accept full responsibility for the offence. "She feels ashamed to be in this position again," said Miss Dixon.

"She does accept she has an issue with alcohol due to being in an abusive relationship."She said Green had been taking antidepressants and and "alcohol blockers" but she had stopped taking them. The lawyer continued: "She now accepts that her decision to stop the medication was unwise; it has left her with urges to drink alcohol again, which is why she drank to excess on that particular day."

Miss Dixon added that the injuries Green sustained - including neck and collar bone fractures - had left her in such pain that she needed strong pain killers.

District Judge Gerald Chalk imposed a ten week community order, with a 7pm to 6am electronically monitored curfew.

He also banned Green from driving for four years, telling her: "The DVLA may not return your driving licence after the four years without medical evidence that you no longer have a problem with alcohol." The defendant must also pay £85 costs and a victim surcharge of the same amount.