Ex-premiership star walks free after EIGHTH speeding conviction

Former premiership footballer Steve Claridge escaped jail today after he was given a suspended sentence for his eighth speeding offence.

Claridge, 42, who played for a string of professional clubs, was given a six month prison term suspended for two years for dangerous driving.

He was also disqualified from driving for a year, fined £1,645 and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid community work at the sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court.

The soccer pundit was allowed to walk free despite the conviction being his eighth for driving offences and already having nine points on his licence.

Judge Peter Carr, passing sentence, told Claridge: 'You have on five occasions in the past been convicted of driving above the speed limit.'

Two other convictions for not giving his name both arose out of exceeding the speed limit, taking the total to seven speeding offences, he added.

The judge said:'The only question that has exercised me is whether or not that sentence has to be served immediately. I have decided that it does not.'

He told Claridge the suspended sentence would serve as a reminder, when he was free to drive again, that a motor vehicle is 'potentially lethal'.

If the ex-footballer committed more offences, particularly to do with driving, he would be unlikely to be given the same chance again, the judge warned.

He said: 'You are free to go. Watch how you drive when you are able to do so again.'

Heyday: Claridge playing in the FA Cup heat between Mill Wall and Southampton in 2003

Claridge, of Fareham, Hampshire, will have to take an extended driving test before getting behind the wheel again.

He was found guilty of the offence last month after jurors heard he drove at speeds of around 100mph in treacherous conditions.

The pundit was pulled over by an unmarked police car on the M40 in December 2006, after repeatedly undertaking other vehicles.

During his trial at Coventry Crown Court, Claridge claimed he was trying to leave the motorway to find a toilet.

He admitted driving at 'slight in excess of 70mph' and denied it was dangerous, saying: 'It wasn't the best bit of driving I have ever done but it wasn't dangerous."

But Nigel Wilkins, prosecuting, said Claridge drove at high speed on wet roads, repeatedly switching lanes and causing other drivers to 'brake sharply in order to let him in'.

Police officers told the court the former footballer was 'jumping up and down' on the hard shoulder when he was pulled over.

Pc Keith Dyson said: 'As I started speaking to him, he started jumping up and down on the hard shoulder, holding his crotch and acting like a child who is desperate to go to the toilet.'

Learning that he might face prosecution for dangerous driving, Claridge had told officers: 'I'll lose my job', the court heard.

The sportsman played for a string of professional clubs, including Leicester City, Birmingham City and Portsmouth.

After the sentencing today, he said: 'I'm pleased with the way things have worked out.'