A BUSINESSWOMAN who tried to 'break down the door of a Bournemouth gay bar' in the early hours of the morning has admitted being drunk and disorderly.

Julie Cook-Hughes, 45, who appeared in the dock under the name Julie Cook, was arrested in the early hours of the morning on Sunday, December 8 last year.

Police had been called to DYMK in Poole Hill just after 3.50am that day.

Last week, Cook-Hughes, who was the 2015 Dorset Business Mother of the Year, appeared at Poole Magistrates' Court for sentence.

She was handed a three-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay a £21 surcharge.

An official from Dorset Police said: "Officers were called at 3.52am on December 8 2019 to a report that a woman was trying to break the door down at DYMK in Bournemouth.

"Officers attended and arrested a woman on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly in a public place."

In June last year, Cook-Hughes, of Dorset Lake Avenue in Lilliput, admitted refusing to give a breath test to police who caught her driving after she drank cocktails and wine with friends.

She was pulled over while behind the wheel of her Land Rover in Poole Hill, Bournemouth – the same location as her latest offence – late on November 24 2018.

The defendant, who has run an award-winning recruitment agency for 20 years, refused to provide a roadside breath test and was arrested and taken to the police station.

The court heard that she had consumed two mojitos and a glass of wine, meaning it was likely she was over the drink-drive limit.

At that time, it was heard that she had suffered "years of domestic violence" which had left her with post-traumatic stress disorder and caused her to drink.

She was disqualified from driving for 18 months and fined £300, as well as being ordered to pay £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge.