Talk about misplaced priorities.

A NURSERY nurse was fined �60 yesterday for holding an apple in her hand while driving around a bend after police used a spotter aircraft, a helicopter and a patrol car to win the case.

Northumbria Police went to extraordinary lengths to gather evidence against Sarah McCaffery, 23, who had missed breakfast and grabbed the apple to eat on her way to work. Magistrates ruled that she had not been in full control of her car. Miss McCaffery was also ordered to pay �100 costs at the tenth court hearing of the case.

Chris Kay, for the prosecution, said that the bill was �425, not including the aerial photographs and the squad vehicle's video. The full cost of bringing the case against Miss McCaffery is thought to have been about �10,000. [...]

The court was told how police brought in a fixed-wing spotter aircraft to fly over Miss McCaffery's route to work and take photographs. Later the force's helicopter repeated the exercise before a patrol car made a video of the journey.

In their defense, officers said they had actually thought she was driving while illegally talking on a cell phone.