BEIJING, Jan. 26 -- British police spent 10,000 pounds (US$19,000) to catch and prosecute a woman driver for eating an apple while behind the wheel, reports said.

    Sarah McCaffrey, a 23-year-old nursery nurse, was fined 60 pounds Monday and ordered to pay 100 pounds in legal fees for her infraction dating from December 2003.

    An officer pulled Sarah McCaffrey over when he saw her with only one hand on the wheel, thinking she had illegally been using a mobile phone while driving.

    He issued a 30-pound fine after discovering it was only an apple.

    But the matter ended in court after McCaffrey appealed against the fine.

    Her lawyer mocked the ruling as ¡°nonsensical¡± and criticized the police surveillance produced for the trial, which included aerial photographs, a video shot from police aircraft and a video recording from a police car.

    ¡°Nothing illustrates the nonsense of this case more than the resources that have been thrown at it,¡± Geoffrey Forrester said after judges at a court in South Tyneside, northeast England, ruled McCaffrey had not had full control of her Ford Ka when she turned left with an apple in her right hand.

    Police said the trial ¡ª which has included 10 hearings ¡ª cost only 425 pounds, excluding the cost of aerial photographs and video. But reports in newspapers Tuesday put the total bill for the operation at 10,000 pounds.

    Police in Northumbria said they would continue to take action against people caught eating or drinking behind the wheel.

    They also insisted no helicopter had been sent to track the apple-eating driver, but that it was already on duty and deployed.

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)