A barrister who failed a breath test while on a mercy mission to save his suicidal friend has been banned from driving for two years.

Former policeman David Robinson-Young, 50, ferried Jane Cooper less than a mile from her home to hospital after a dinner party, then drove off again to search for her when she fled the hospital threatening to ''kill herself properly'', a court was told.

The Newcastle lawyer was stopped by police a few hundred yards later and found to be more than twice the legal alcohol limit for driving.

Magistrates who heard he had 82 micrograms of alcohol per 100ml of breath fined Robinson-Young £350, but told him his ban would be reduced by six months if he agreed to go on a drink-drivers' programme.

Robinson-Young, of St Peter's Basin, Newcastle, told officers after he was charged: ''I only drove because I considered my friend's life was in danger.''

Gateshead Magistrates' Court heard that the barrister had spent an evening at the home of Mrs Cooper, a former assistant editor of the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, and her estranged husband, Martin, last June.

They had shared a meal and about three bottles of wine when the barrister drank a glass of vodka as a night-cap. Then Mrs Cooper told the defendant she had taken her second overdose of paracetamol within a week.

The defendant said he took her to hospital because he feared an ambulance or taxi would take too long to arrive.

While Mr Cooper, also a former policeman, looked after their two children, then aged three and five, Robinson-Young took his friend to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead, from her home in the Low Fell area of the town.

She became very agitated when doctors did not give her charcoal solution to absorb the effects of the tablets - a procedure which she had undergone the previous week.

When her husband arrived at the hospital after arranging child care, she told the two men she was leaving.

Giving evidence yesterday, Mrs Cooper said: "I said I'm not going to sit in here and die and promptly took myself off and I told them I would go and kill myself properly.''

She ran off through the hospital car park and while Mr Cooper gave chase on foot Robinson-Young got into his Jaguar to head her off.

A patrol car followed after officers had previously noticed him with glazed eyes and slurred speech. They arrested him after the breath test.

Peter Schofield, defending, told the magistrates: "He thought it was a medical emergency."