And when Jennifer Lowery, 38, was nabbed by police she hid her car keys in an intimate place in a bid to convince police she had not been driving.

But a strip search at a police station exposed her lie and yesterday she admitted drink driving – the second time she has been caught over the limit.

Lowery had two children in the car with her when she drove on January 12, Peterlee magistrates heard.

Police were alerted to the fact she had been drinking prior to getting behind the wheel following a tip-off from her step-daughter, though she had parked the car up when officers approahed her near her home in Stafford Place, Peterlee.

Although she was in the vicinity of her Peugeot car when she was confronted by police, she claimed she had not been behind the wheel.

Prosecutor Debra Jones said: "Officers approached her and asked whether she had driven the vehicle. She disputed that, but was intoxicated.

"When asked to provide a road side test she became verbally abusive, using foul language."

The court heard Lowery was warned that she would be arrested if she continued to swear in front of two young children.

At the police station, she provided a sample which revealed that she had 188 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood – the legal limit is 80.

"She was asked to produce the keys and disputes she had driven the vehicle and was searched," added Mrs Jones.

She said this was followed by an "intimate search", which she also called a "strip search".

Mrs Jones said that although Lowery maintained she had not been driving, she admitted she had hidden the keys because a friend had told her you could not be charged without the keys.

Dave Smith, mitigating, said:"She had consumed a couple of glasses of wine but had not drank to excess and was still in control on that occasion."

The court heard Lowery's marriage had broken down and she was a single parent, whose children relied on her for transport.

Chair of the bench Gerard Canavan said: "That you were drink driving with two young children on a second drink driving offence beggars belief."

Sentence was adjourned until April 9 for a pre-sentence report.