Kat Slater actress banned from driving
Actress Jessie Wallace has been banned from driving for three years and fined £1,000 (€1,400) after admitting drink-driving.
Wallace, 32, who plays the character Kat Slater in EastEnders, claimed her drinks had been spiked as a joke by her uncle Dennis Bell.
But following a hearing at Southend Magistrates Court, district judge Kevin Gray said he did not accept Wallace's claim and was imposing a mandatory drink-drive ban.
Wallace, who lives in London, was approximately one-and-a-half times the legal limit when stopped by police in Chelmsford, in March.
She claimed she had drunk two glasses of white wine which, without her knowledge, had been laced with vodka.
Prosecutor Charles Llewellyn accused her and Mr Bell, a taxi driver of Hatfield Peverel, Essex, of lying. Both insisted that they were telling the truth.
It is the second time that Wallace has been convicted of a drink-drive offence. She was banned from driving for 15 months in 1998 after being convicted of failing to take a breath test.
