A suspended doctor blamed the heartbreak of her husband’s cancer and the stress of a dispute with her fellow GPs in Keighley for her devastated state of mind when she impaled her car on a stone wall.

Jane Hornsey was found guilty of drink-driving in Kilnsey, on October 18, 2009, by magistrates in Skipton, on Friday.

They adjourned sentence until February 9 for reports.

The mother-of-four, 53, of Millers House, Arncliffe, failed to convince the Bench she was sober when she hit the wall and had drunk a half-bottle of vodka before the police arrived.

A breath-test revealed she had 93 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the limit is 35. The Bench accepted prosecutor Helen Hogben’s argument that Hornsey was already drunk when she hit the wall, near the Confluence Centre, outside the village.

“There was only one full half-bottle of vodka in the car when it was searched and no sign of the one she claimed to have drunk,” she said.

Hornsey, who denied attempting to move her Peugeot, said: “I was in a depressed state of mind and decided to drink some of the vodka.

“It was a stupid thing to do and I’ve regretted it ever since.”

Her lawyer, Simon Broad, said Hornsey would be going before the General Medical Council in July and she was hoping she could continue to work as a GP.

“At the time of this incident, Dr Hornsey was in an emotional crisis, her husband was suffering bowel cancer — he died eight weeks later – and she had a depressive illness,” he said.

The Bench agreed to his request not to impose an interim driving ban and said they were considering a low-level community service sentence.