AN ELLESMERE Port man has been ordered to wear an alcohol abstinence monitoring tag and banned from driving for four years by magistrates.
Samuel McMahon, 32 and of Whitefields in Elton, was also spared a jail sentence by Chester Magistrates Court after admitting refusing to provide a sample for analysis.
His eight-week sentence was suspended for two years but he will have to wear the tag for 90 days and will be in breach if a drop of alcohol is detected.
The sentence relates to an incident on December 15 last year when police officers were drawn to a BMW vehicle being driven at high speed by McMahon on the A556 near Helsby in the direction of Ellesmere Port.
Tara Thomas, prosecuting, added that police said they needed to drive at 80mph to keep up with the defendant but admitted that he slowed to 50mph when he saw the blue lights.
When he was pulled over, a passenger got out from the front seat with a full pint and McMahon admitted that he had left the pub ‘around 12 minutes’ ago.
Police waited to carry out a roadside breath test but once completed, he recorded a score of 95mcgs per 100ml of breath and was arrested.
Here, according to Miss Thomas, he became ‘obstructive’ and hurtled forward in the police vehicle claiming it was driving too fast and that he was injured.
McMahon refused to give a sample for officers when at the custody suite and claimed he had been left with a head injury.
However, healthcare staff on site declared that he was fit to provide a sample but he continued to refuse before being taken to hospital for treatment.
The court also heard that McMahon had a previous conviction for a similar offence and was currently serving a two-year community order.
Officers from probation told the court that he had completed all of his 100 hours of unpaid work and only had two unauthorised absences and that he worked with them in a positive manner.
Defending, Steve Coope said his client’s history of offending was underpinned by alcohol abuse and ‘an inability to monitor his emotions brought about by childhood trauma’.
He added that his client also suffered an industrial accident that left him unable to work in his chosen bathroom fitting field.
While he acknowledged the refusal, Mr Coope added that it was simply that – a refusal – and not an inability to give a sample because of intoxication.
Sentencing him, magistrates said: “We do feel this was a deliberate and obstructive refusal and because of your previous record, we think this crosses the custodial threshold.
“We are prepared to suspend this for 12 months.”
McMahon was also ordered to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £154.