A DRINK driver who crashed her car through a garden wall woke up the homeowners with a ‘loud bang’, a court heard.

Caitlin Marie Mills landed herself in court after she crashed through the outside wall of a house on Walney.

South Cumbria Magistrates’ Court heard the 26-year-old was over the limit when she crashed at the junction on Black Butts Lane after 2am on March 26, causing around £1,000 of damage.

The defendant, of Barrow’s St Luke’s Street, pleaded guilty to drink driving in her Audi RS4.

Prosecutor Lee Dacre said: “The defendant had been drinking at a family member’s address. They had an argument and she drove away.

“She lost control of the vehicle and collided with the outside wall of the house and damaged a telephone exchange.

“The owner reports being woken by a loud bang.

“The defendant ran away on foot.”

Mr Dacre said she was eventually found by police at her home.

“The owners said having to repair the wall has caused them a great deal of anxiety, especially because of the coronavirus pandemic,” Mr Dacre said, adding the damage to the dry stone wall, which requires a specialist to fix, would enter four figures.

Mills was found to have had 59 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, over the limit of 35 mcgs and also charged with driving without insurance, which she admitted.

In mitigation, solicitor Michael Graham said the defendant had ‘struggled to cope’ with the sudden death of her husband earlier in the year and drove away from the home of her brother because of a related argument.

“She apologises for her behaviour on this occasion,” he said. “She clearly was in a distressed state.”

He said not having insurance was a ‘mistake’.

Mills was given a 12-week curfew between 7pm and 7am and banned from driving for 20 months.