A Portadown man who drove after pints at a football match has been warned by a Judge that he will be jailed if he’s caught doing it again.
Richard Sproule, of Tullyroan Drive, was lambasted by District Judge Anne Marshall, who said that his actions amounted to “more than a silly mistake”.
The 44-year-old appeared before Armagh Magistrates’ Court, sitting at Newry Courthouse on Friday, charged with one count of driving with excess alcohol in breath.
The court heard that on Sunday, November 24, 2024, police received a report of a single-vehicle road-traffic collision on the Portadown Road outside Armagh.
When police arrived, they discovered a red Ford Fiesta with damage to the body panels and three tyres.
Sproule was sitting in the driver’s seat of the vehicle.
Checks on police systems showed that Sproule was the keeper and insured party of the vehicle.
On speaking to him, police could smell alcohol from the vehicle, and he admitted that he had consumed a number of pints.
A preliminary breath test (PBT) was carried out, which he failed.
Sproule was taken to custody where an evidential breath reading was taken with a lower reading of 89 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit in Northern Ireland is 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.
A defence lawyer, speaking on Sproule’s behalf, explained to the court that his client had attended a football match in Portadown on the night in question and had taken alcohol.
During the course of the night he was called by a friend who was asking for a lift from Armagh, after which Sproule “very foolishly” got his car and began to drive to Armagh.
Describing the incident as a “very silly and stupid mistake”, the defence pointed to Sproule’s problems with mental health and alcohol, but conceded that the Judge’s hands were tied because of Sproule’s previous drink driving convictions.
District Judge Anne Marshall commented: “This was more than a silly mistake, this is extremely serious behaviour. This is your third time drink-driving and I’m going to warn you, if I see you again, it’ll not be the length of disqualification you’ll be worried about it will be the length of the prison sentence.”
She also noted that this was Sproule’s third time drink-driving in nine years.
Stating that she was “extremely concerned” by the defendant’s repeat behaviour, alongside the fact he was over twice the legal limit and there was a collision, Judge Marshall fined Sproule £500 and disqualified him from driving for five years.
She added: “Be in no doubt, if you get behind the wheel of a car again while intoxicated and it’ll be Maghaberry.”
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