A DRINK driver has avoided getting in to “serious trouble” after a “blip” saw him breach his suspended sentence order.
Nathan Jefferies, 30, had been handed a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, in May last year for a series of driving offences throughout Carmarthenshire.
He led the officers on a high-speed chase through Cross Hands, Capel Hendre and on towards Ammanford on August 1, 2021, before eventually hitting a telegraph pole.
Jefferies, of Dyffryn Road in Ammanford, pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving, failing to stop when required to do so and failing to provide a specimen for analysis.
As part of his suspended sentence, Jefferies was ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work and 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
Jefferies missed an appointment with the probation service on September 7 and a further appointment on September 21. He also missed another appointment on September 28.
Mr Walters, prosecuting, said Jefferies did not provide the probation service with an excuse for these breaches within five days.
David Singh, defending, said Jefferies had been dealing with “various with family members being unwell”.
He said the defendant appreciated that this was “not an excuse” and that he should have told the probation service.
Mr Singh said Jefferies had completed 170 out of his 180 hours of unpaid work, and that these breaches were “a blip”.
“He’s not committed any new offences,” Mr Singh said. “He’s been sober for over 12 months.”
The court heard that Jefferies had attended his two most recent appointments.
Judge Geraint Walters said: “If you do not comply with the terms of a suspended sentence order, the court must send you to prison. Not might do it, must do it. The only get out of jail free card, literally, is if the judge can find a reason it is
unjust to do so.
“This is your first breach of this order. But for the fact that you have re-engaged with it recently, you would have been in serious trouble.”
He sentenced Jefferies to an additional 30 hours of unpaid work, and ordered him to pay £100 in costs.
https://www.southwalesguardian.co.uk/news/23879243.ammanford-drink-driver-breached-suspended-sentence/
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