A POLICE officer wondering why a motorist had stopped on a mini roundabout late at night pulled alongside and saw she was texting with one hand and holding a cigarette in the other.

Blackburn magistrates heard when the officer spoke to Vicky Newham her speech was slurred and her eyes were glazed.

Newham, 34, of Moss Hall Road, Accrington, pleaded guilty to driving with excess alcohol.

She was banned from driving for 12 months, fined £215 and ordered to pay £85 costs and £30 victim surcharge.

Enza Geldard, prosecuting, said the officer was driving on Dill Hall Lane towards the junction with Queens Road West where there was a mini roundabout.

He stopped to give way to traffic coming from his right but the vehicle stopped halfway onto the roundabout.

“The driver was looking down into her lap and her face was illuminated,” said Mrs Geldard.

“He pulled alongside and could see she was texting with one hand and smoking a cigarette with the other.”

Richard Prew, defending, said the circumstances leading to his client getting behind the wheel were “bizarre.”

She was looking after her nan, who had recently come out of hospital, and her nan’s dog “savaged” her lighter.

“She went to the shop to buy matches and had she not received a text message she would not have stopped at the roundabout."