A MOTORIST guilty of drink-driving and speeding – and who drove without insurance for the 13th time – has been jailed for a year.
Colin Riley admitted the offences when he appeared in the Magistrate’s Court but said it had been “a really bad year” for him.
He was also banned from the roads for three years and eight months and ordered to retake his driving test after the ban has elapsed.
The court heard that Riley had only just regained his licence after a previous ban when the first new offences occurred.
He had been allowed to drive again in January but St Brelade Centenier Amanda Wright, prosecuting, said that on the evening of 13 March he had been spotted driving a car at 47mph along Rue du Pont Marquet – a road with a 30mph speed limit.
“He said he was testing it out on a hill,” she said.
Then eight weeks later, on 8 May, he was seen stumbling on the road as if drunk before getting into his car and driving on various roads.
A breath test at police headquarters showed he had 73 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – more than twice the legal maximum of 35 micrograms.
Riley told the court: “It was a really bad year for me.
“I drank too much that evening. I normally get a taxi home, but on that one day there was a moment of madness.
“It was stupid. I do apologise.”
However, Relief Magistrate David Cadin told him: “These are all serious offences.
“It can’t be described as moment of madness. It was a deliberate decision to drive without insurance.
“You have 12 previous convictions for driving without insurance.”
As well as the prison sentence and the driving ban he fined Riley £115 for speeding.
