A deputy head who admitted being drunk while with her two children said it was the alcohol in a cold remedy that made her fall over.

Theresa Mackey, who is suspended from her job at Downs Park Special School, in Portslade, blamed a high dose of Night Nurse, which contains alcohol, for making her drunk.

Mackey, 43, of Edburton Avenue, Brighton, admitted being drunk in charge of a child when she appeared at Brighton Magistrates Court yesterday. She was given a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £50 costs.

The court heard Mackey, who had no previous convictions, denied the charge following her arrest in April but after realising the levels of alcohol in the medicine she changed her plea to guilty.

Mark Smith, prosecuting, told the court when security officers saw Mackey and her two children on the Palace Pier, Brighton, they believed she was acting in a drunken manner and saw her fall.

They were concerned about the children and called the police. The officers who attended believed she was clearly drunk as her speech was slurred and she smelled of alcohol, the court heard.

She denied being drunk, telling the officers she had done nothing wrong, but was arrested and charged.

During an interview at the police station, Mackey admitted drinking half a bottle of gin 24 hours earlier but claimed she had not drunk any alcohol that day.

She told officers she did not drink often, which was why the alcohol had such a bad effect on her.

She also claimed she was suffering the effects of the menopause and she had a weak ankle that caused her to fall over.

Tony Loader, defending, said: "The arrest had a devastating effect on her life.

"She had no reason to believe she was drunk because she had not consumed any alcohol at all that day."

He said she had a heavy cold but had been determined to take her children, aged seven and three, out to the pier.

She had drunk more than 100ml of Night Nurse and was totally unaware of the effect it would have.

When she started to feel unwell she asked her oldest child to go to the security office to get help.

After the case, a spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove Council's education department said: "We are not in a position to comment at the moment. We have to consider the implications of the judgment through our own procedures, which we will do as quickly as possible."