Drink driver's ten hour 'suicide watch' booze session in Sutton

Neil Sheasby, 49, of Gill Street, admitted driving with excess alcohol when he appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court on Thursday.

Police stopped his white transit van just after 1pm, on October 7, following a tip off from a amember of the public, at King’s Mill Hospital.

A breath test revealed he had 136 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 milliltres of breath, when the legal limit is is 35 microgrammes.

Tim Haines, mitigating, said Sheasby, a shop-fitter who worked six days a week, was the sole carer for his elderly father.

He said there was no improper driving, but added that the custody threshold was clearly passed because of the high reading.

Cheryl Nisbett, of the probation service, said Sheasby had started drinking at 6pm the previous day, while looking after a friend who had threatened suicide, and finished at 4am.

“His friend was taken to hospital by ambulance and he got in his van to follow him,” she said.

“He did concede that he had no need to do this as his friend was safe.”

The court heard Sheasby had a previous conviction for drink driving in 2012, when he received a community order and a 28 month ban.

Magistrates Dennis Banner said: “To say the least, this is an extraordinarily high reading. The mitigation regarding your father has kept you out of prison.”

He was given a 12 week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to carry out a rehabilitation activity for ten days.

He was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £115 victim surcharge. He was banned from driving for five years.