A Northampton disqualified driver has avoided immediate custody after being caught driving with excess alcohol ten weeks after being disqualified for another excess alcohol offence.
Michael Anongbo, 56, of Entwood Drive, Northampton admitted offences of driving whilst disqualified, driving with excess alcohol and driving without insurance when he appeared at Northampton Magistrates' Court on Monday, 3rd June 2024.
Information is scarce about this one, but it would appear that disqualified Anongbo was caught behind the wheel of his Land Rover Discovery on Entwood Drive.
His breath was found to contain 48 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the prescribed limit being 35 microgrammes.
On 25th March 2024 he was convicted of driving with excess alcohol and driving without due care and attention and made subject to a 44-month disqualification.
Such a lengthy disqualification was imposed on that occasion due to Anongbo having yet another excess alcohol offence dating back to 2021.
District Judge Amar Mehta was of the opinion that Anongbo's latest offences were so serious that only a custodial sentence was appropriate. However, for reasons that have gone unreported, he has elected to suspend the custodial term.
Anongbo was sentenced to 10 weeks' custody suspended for 12 months.
He was also ordered to pay the surcharge of £154, prosecution costs of £85 and further disqualified for a period of 80 months.
The maximum sentence the court can impose for driving whilst disqualified and driving with excess alcohol is 6 months' custody. However, as they are both summary offences, when sentenced together the maximum is still 6 months' custody.
Anongbo admitted both offences, so straight away that would reduce the sentence to a maximum of 4 months' custody, of which he would serve 2 months' in prison. However, with the current well publicised prison population difficulties, prisoners serving sentences as short as that are being released after only a few weeks.
This is perhaps one of these cases where the District Judge has done the numbers in his head and thought that given prevailing circumstances it would be counterproductive sending Anongbo into immediate custody.
On the face of it, he seems quite a deserving candidate!
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