Motorist nearly three times drink-drive limit

A man caught driving while almost three times the limit has escaped prison but will have to complete a nine-month community order.Kitchen porter Sven Sextl, 49, of Jubilee Road, Heacham, admitted drink-driving in Wootton Road, Lynn, on June 16 this year when he appeared before the town’s magistrates on Thursday.The court heard it was his second drink-driving conviction in three years meaning he was facing a mandatory three-year ban and a possible jail term.

Katherine Newson, prosecuting, described to magistrates how Sextl was spotted driving his Citroen C3 car very slowly by police. The car was straddling both lanes and officers stopped it.When they spoke to the driver there was a strong smell of alcohol coming from the car and he seemed very vague. A roadside breath test proved positive and a further urine test later showed he had 291mg of alcohol in 100ml of urine – the legal limit is 107.George Sorrell, defending, explained Sextl was having a bad time as he had been living with his girlfriend but she did not really want him and he had been sleeping in his car. He had been parking in various car parks to sleep but on the day in question, he had been moving from one car park to another, having had a drink.Mr Sorrell said Sextl acknowledged he had a problem with alcohol linked partly to his girlfriend’s decision and needed help to deal with that issue. Magistrates, after hearing both sides, asked for a stand-down pre-sentence report before deciding what to do with Sextl.After chatting with the probation service, Sextl was brought back into court and probation officer Naomi Grennan told magistrates she was recommending a community order.Magistrates agreed with her recommendation and sentenced Sextl to a nine-month community order with a nine-month alcohol treatment requirement.They disqualified him from driving for 42 months and fined him £100 with £85 costs and a £114 victim surcharge. They refused to allow him to take a drink-drive awareness course to cut his ban because he had undertaken one when he was disqualified previously.