A WORRIED woman who refused to give evidence against her friend in a drink-driving case ended up behind bars.

Holly Bingham twice failed to answer a court summons and hid from police when they tried to execute a warrant, a judge said.

It took "an entire team" of officers from a staff-strapped force to track her down, lock her in a cell overnight and finally put her before a court.

Ultimately, she gave evidence against colleague Alicia Jones, who had denied being behind the wheel when her Vauxhall Adam was involved in a crash.

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A Vauxhall Adam, like the one involved in the crash

Jones, 19, was breathalysed and was nearly three times the legal alcohol limit, but claimed someone called 'Katie' had been driving.

Passenger Megan Briggs gave evidence reluctantly, but Bingham caused the case at Teesside Magistrates' Court to be twice delayed by failing to show up.

District Judge Christine Harrison said the 23-year-old - who had spent £250 on a boozy night out with workmates before the crash - had "tried to derail the trial".

The judge told her solicitor Paul Dixon: "This has involved two additional hearings which were unnecessary, and a taskforce of police officers."

Mr Dixon was hoping an apology would satisfy Judge Harrison, but she told the lawyer: "I am treating it substantially more serous than that, substantially.

"In my view, she has deliberately left her house to evade the police. She took steps to absent herself."

Bingham, of Lime Crescent, Hartlepool, was fined £500 after accepting she committed a contempt of court.

Judge Harrison told her: "That might sound like a lot of money, but it's two nights' drinking for you, apparently. That's what you've told us.

"Just think that it's your utter stupidity that has cost you that amount, and has cost the country thousands of pounds. It was all completely unnecessary.

"We have been running around the countryside, getting police officers out to try to find you. You knew you had to come to court and how important your evidence was.

"That's what I think, that's what I believe about you. However, there is no direct evidence, and you have apologised and spent a night in the cells.

"One would hope the message would go out that people who don't turn up get get up to three months."

Bingham finally supported the prosecution after being locked up, and told a court a bunch of colleagues from Npower in Peterlee, County Durham, had gone outboozing on pay-day.

She said she had spent £250 on alcohol and had little memory of the night, saying: “I wouldn’t have known if Brad Pitt was sat next to me.”

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Brad Pitt with then girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow

Jones, of Harvester Close, Hartlepool, got 12 weeks after being found guilty of driving with excess alcohol in the early hours of October 27 last year – but late in the day yesterday, her case took another twist.

The court heard how police found the three young women outside of a Ford Adam shortly after 4am – just yards from where they had been drinking at Vibe nightclub in Peterlee, County Durham.

Prosecutor Monique Jarvis-Legg told the court that the £10,000 blue hatchback smashed into a fence near a roundabout, and owner Jones gave a reading of 95 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mcg.

The former waitress denied being the driver and continued to dispute it in the face of what the judge described as "absolutely overwhelming evidence".

Judge Harrison said: "Anyone hearing this farcical trial will, quite frankly, find the evidence completely overwhelming.

"This lady got into a car with two colleagues after consuming alcohol to the level of 95mcg."

She told tearful Jones: "Being completely intoxicated, you crashed the car to such an extent it was a write-off. You had two friends in the car who could have been killed.

"You have made the matter substantially worse. You have put your two friends through having to come to court to give evidence, and you have sat there showing no emotion whatsoever, in my view.

"Perhaps this will be a lesson to people who come before the court and play fast and loose when the evidence is overwhelming. You should have pleaded guilty."

Jones's legal team were successful in a later application for bail pending an appeal in front of a judge at the nearby crown court, so when she arrived at HMP Low Newton in Durham, on a prison van, she was released.

Her lawyer, Andrew Teate, had argued that custody would worsen her anxiety and depression, and she had already been punished by having her work in customer services with the power company ended.

"It is fair to say, all of us in our youth made mistakes, but I suspect for Miss Jones this could be the most serious one she could ever make."

Mr Dixon told Judge Harrison that Bingham had also been sacked from her job, and had been getting treatment for anxiety and depression since the death of her father in November.

"She was terrified about coming to court," he added. "She hadn't realised the seriousness of the situation until today. She also has issues with her mother, who has recently been evicted, and is moving in with her. She says everything got on top of her."