Star tells of ‘tough year’ as she admits to traffic offence
ROCHDALE actress Sue Devaney told a court she’d had a ‘tough year’ as she pleaded guilty to a traffic offence.
The former Corrie star, who played Kevin Webster’s sister Debbie in the soap, let a friend drive her car uninsured, a court heard.
Sue, 50, who appeared under her real name of Susan Barber, and played Rita in Jonny Briggs, appeared at Flintshire Magistrates’ Court at Mold, North Wales
Barber claimed she was having a panic attack when she allowed her friend to drive the car.
She was fined £120 with £85 costs and a £30 surcharge after she pleaded guilty to permitting her friend to drive the vehicle with no insurance.
The court heard she let Nicholas Newbould, an American actor, drive her Seat car in the Porthmadog area in July last year.
Shaun Bartlett-Evans, prosecuting, said when a notice was sent out to identify who was behind the wheel, Barber said the driver was Newbould of Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California.
Barber, of Market Street Shawforth, was asked to show that the driver was insured in her car but she did not respond and the matter had ended up in court.
Representing herself, she said that it had been a tough year, had suffered a break-down but was guilty of not responding to the mail.
Her friend was driving because she was having panic attacks.
When she had the original letter through she filled it in correctly.
Devaney said as an actress she worked away a lot and was away for months while she worked in theatre in Bolton.
She did not return home until January when she found the further correspondence.
Newbould was present in court.
“We have his details but that does not matter now,” she said.
Asked about her means, on which to base the fine, she said that she was not working at the moment.
She had finished her last job in Bolton and did not know what her next job would be.
“I will be signing on until I get another acting job,” she said.
Barber, who played Kevin Webster’s sister Debbie in Coronation Street, has also appeared in Shameless, Jonny Briggs, Casualty and Dinner Ladies.
She has had an extensive stage career with roles in London productions of When we were Married, The Winds in the Willows, and The Land or the Living. She also starred in the Mamma Mia musical for a summer season in Blackpool Opera House.
Last November she appeared on the BBC1 quiz programme Pointless Celebrities.