A Dungannon comedian has been landed with a £250 fine, after being found to be drink-driving by police on his way home from a show.
Nathan Smyth, 27, of Killymerron Park, had driven home after consuming alcohol at a performance in a Belfast pub.
Smyth appeared before Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on Friday, via videolink from his solicitor’s office, charged with driving with excess alcohol in breath.
The court heard that in the early hours of the morning on May 27, police observed a vehicle on the M1 outside Lurgan, swerving in it’s lane and putting the “rear off-side tyre in the grass of the central reservation” as the driver passed another car.
Police stopped the vehicle and subsequently arrested the defendant following the conduction of a preliminary breath test (PBT). A procedure was carried out in Lurgan custody which produced a breath reading of 104. The legal limit is 35.
Smyth’s defence solicitor, Niall Bradley, said that the defendant is a part-time comedian, who had been performing at a pub in Belfast. “He took one drink which inevitably led to a few more.”
“When he was stopped by police he accepted that he had taken alcohol.”
District Judge Bernie Kelly imposed a fine of £250, along with the offender levy, to be paid within four weeks.
Smyth was also disqualified from driving for 12 months.
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