BRITAIN'S DRUNKEST WOMAN - a Shoplifting mother downs 28 pints a day

A SHOPLIFTING mum downs up to 28 pints of lager in a single day, a court heard.

Dawn Marsden, 31, drinks so much she should be dead, experts said. She was wrecked as she appeared on a theft charge and had to ask reporters later what her sentence was. Jobless Marsden spends all day drinking cheap lager at home in Hartlepool, Teesside, and steals to fund her habit. The charge related to ten packs of bacon stolen from a Co-op and sold for £1 each.

Her solicitor John Relton told the town's magistrates: "You may have noticed my client has a drink problem. She will drink up to 16 litres a day. She has a long-standing appetite for alcohol." Her two-year-old daughter was taken into foster care because of her boozing, the court heard. Marsden, who has a string of previous convictions for theft, admitted the new charge and was handed a six-month conditional discharge.

She then turned to a reporter to check the sentence, before branding it a "sham" and walking out. Her booze intake is a staggering 84 units in 24 hours - the recommended safe guideline for women for a month. She sinks more than the drink-drive limit EVERY HOUR of the day. Yesterday Marsden said: "I'm going on detox next month."