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England footballer David Bentley was banned from driving for a year today for smashing his £90,000 Porsche into a lamp post while drunk.
The Spurs midfielder had downed four pints plus spirits when he lost control of the car and crashed in the early hours of 13 August.
The accident happened as Bentley, who was 25 yesterday, was driving home through Potters Bar after he had partied with friends at a gig in Shoreditch.
Today a court heard police found him trying to push the car out of the road. He told them he had had “too much to drink”.
Bentley admitted drink-driving and was banned, fined £500 and ordered to pay £100 costs at St Albans magistrates' court over the crash which happened three days before Spurs were to face Liverpool in the opening match of the season.
The court heard that the footballer, thought to earn about £50,000 a week, was fined two weeks' wages by furious Spurs boss Harry Redknapp. Bentley has also lost a “significant” contract worth tens of thousands of pounds with sportswear company Puma.
Prosecutor Janet Brooks told the court that police were called at 3.10am to the accident on Judges Hill in Potters Bar. Bentley was at the scene with another man.
Bentley had 51 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath, 15 micrograms over the legal limit. The player, from
Cuffley, Hertfordshire, spoke today only to confirm personal details during the short hearing.
His lawyer, Adam Davis, described his “exemplary character” and said: “He made a foolish decision and he accepts that, and that's why he said to police he had too much to drink.
“He works in a very high profile industry and the press coverage immediately after the incident was sustained and seriously adverse against him.”
Mr Davis added: “He has been hit very hard in the pocket — these are significant sums of money he has lost directly as a consequence of this incident.”
Reader views (1)
“He has been hit very hard in the pocket — these are significant sums of money he has lost directly as a consequence of this incident.”
Hold on now, if I were to lose my job as a direct result of drink driving would they reduce my sentence because I'd already been punished enough? Doubtful isn't it? Diddums lost a fraction of his earnings and the judge takes pity on him, it's another example of piddle poor judgement siding with the well off.
- Bob, Cheam, 28/08/2009 15:48
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