EastEnders star drops road ban appeal

EastEnders actress Jessie Wallace has abandoned an appeal against a three-year drink-drive ban, it was announced today.

The appeal was due to be heard tomorrow but a court spokeswoman said Wallace had withdrawn the application.

The 32-year-old, who plays Kat Slater in the BBC soap, was also fined £1,000 (€1,450) at Southend Magistrates Court in November.

District Judge Kevin Gray was told police stopped Wallace in Chelmsford, Essex, in March after spotting her silver Mercedes breaking the speed limit. A breath test showed that she had 51mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.

Wallace admitted driving with excess alcohol but asked the judge to use his discretionary powers and not impose a driving ban.

She said she believed she had drunk two glasses of white wine prior to driving.

But she learned than a month after being charged that her uncle, Denis Bell, had laced each glass of wine with vodka as a joke, it was claimed.

Prosecutor Charles Llewellyn accused both Wallace and Mr Bell, a taxi driver of Hatfield Peverel, near Chelmsford, of lying and Mr Gray refused to accept the actress’s claim.

He said she had failed to prove on the balance of probabilities that there were special reasons why she should not be disqualified from driving.