Man pleads guilty to stealing girlfriend's car & drink-driving

29-year-old pleads guilty to charges

A court’s heard a man stole his girlfriend’s car and went drink-driving – just weeks after being banned from the roads for exactly the same crimes.

Twenty-nine-year-old Ashley Graham Kelly of Westhill Avenue in Castletown appeared before magistrates at Douglas courthouse.

He pleaded guilty to taking a vehicle without its owner’s consent, drink-driving, driving whilst disqualified and having no insurance.

Prosecution advocate Barry Swain told the court at around 2am on 5 December last year, police were called to Ballaugh Bridge after a car crashed into the river.

They found Kelly nearby with wet shoes and trousers, but he denied he’d been driving his girlfriend’s Renault Clio – however DNA on the deployed airbag showed Kelly had been driving, and breath-testing equipment showed he was twice the legal limit.

Kelly was handed a driving ban last November after taking the car without permission – and on that occasion had been twice over the limit.

Magistrates sentenced him to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, and imposed a fresh five-year driving ban.

He was also ordered to pay £5,000 compensation to the Department of Infrastructure for the damage to the bridge, the highest amount the court could award.