A banned motorist who told police officers "I'm not driving" when he was caught behind the wheel has been put behind bars.
Convicted fraudster James Lee Roberts, from Halewood, Merseyside, was driving without insurance and pulled over by the police in Runcorn,on October 1.
Roberts, 29, told Cheshire police in an interview that he had bought the car three weeks ago and admitted that he was disqualified from driving.
Ian Criddle, prosecuting, told Chester Crown Court on Friday that Roberts had past convictions, mainly for dishonesty and breaching court orders, Liverpool Echo reports.
He was sentenced to three years in prison on July 20, 2017, for fraud, and then shortly after his release, on October 31, 2018, he was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for two years, for conspiracy to commit fraud over an income tax assessment.
Roberts was disqualified from driving for six months on July 19, but breached the ban and received a community order on August 14 and told to complete a rehabilitation requirement.
The offences he committed in October breached his suspended sentence and his community order.
He pleaded guilty to driving disqualified, without insurance and the suspended sentence breach in magistrates’ court on October 24.
David Watson, defending, said Roberts said he was driving because he needed to take his partner to hospital for an appointment.
He said Roberts deserved credit for his guilty pleas and should also have his prison term reduced because of time served on a curfew.
Mr Watson added that his client said his partner had recently been diagnosed with cancer, which had led to the loss of their baby during pregnancy.
Roberts’s offending had stemmed from "drug issues in relation to cocaine", he added.
Judge Patrick Thompson reduced the sentence down from 20 months because of the guilty pleas and the time served on curfew.
He sentenced Roberts to 15 months in prison and banned him from driving for 19.5 months.
Sending Roberts down, the judge said: "This is the second time you’ve committed offences during the currency of your suspended sentence order.
"When you receive that order, you would have been told by the judge that if you committed further offences you would be likely to go to prison.
"The suspended sentence order is what is says on the tin I’m afraid.
"You came before the court on August 14 for driving disqualified, a very serious offence.
"You were given a chance, you really were given a chance but I’m afraid within really six months of being given that chance, there you were, driving disqualified and there’s no insurance.
"They’re offences viewed very seriously by this court. The court has no option but to invoke the suspended sentence.”
