Newsreader sacked as magistrate

Newsreader Carol Barnes has been sacked as a magistrate after being found guilty of drink driving.

Ms Barnes, who now works on the ITV News Channel, has been removed from the bench by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, for 10 years.

She was stopped near Brighton in September 2004 on suspicion of speeding and was found to be over the limit.

The case followed the death of her daughter Clare, 24, in a parachute accident in Australia last year.

According to the Department of Constitutional Affairs, Lord Falconer accepted that Ms Barnes had been under great stress following her daughter's death.

However, a spokesman for the DCA said that the Lord Chancellor had no choice but to remove her from the bench. "A motoring disqualification would generally bar appointment as a magistrate," he said.