Iris Robinson fined over crash

Scandal-hit former MP Iris Robinson was fined today for causing a road crash in the North.

The wife of Stormont First Minister and Democratic Unionist leader Peter Robinson was handed a £200 (€234) fine and three penalty points after admitting driving without due care and attention.

Newtownards magistrates court heard the 61-year-old ploughed into the side of another motorist as he tried to turn right at a junction as she drove home from church in October 2009.

The incident happened just over two months before the MP found herself embroiled in one of the biggest controversies to hit politics in the North after it emerged she helped her teenage lover secure a business contract in her own council area.

Since then the one-time Stormont health committee chairwoman, who attempted suicide after she admitted the affair to her husband, has been receiving medical treatment for depression and withdrawn from public life.

She did not appear in court for the brief hearing.