CRAIG Morley is today behind bars after he was convicted for drink driving for the fourth time.Morley will also not be allowed to drive again for five years to "protect the public from serious harm".

CRAIG Morley is today behind bars after he was convicted for drink driving for the fourth time.

Morley will also not be allowed to drive again for five years to "protect the public from serious harm".

Morley, 29, of Hill Farm Lane, Chelmondiston, pleaded guilty at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court to two charges of drink driving and a further common assault offence.

The court heard that he had been disqualified from driving twice before. In July 1997 he was banned for one year and fined £150 for driving while over the limit and then in August 1999 he was disqualified for three years and ordered to pay £200 for a similar offence.

His latest two instances of drink driving came within six days of each other.

Lesla Small, prosecuting, told the court that on March 30, Morley was stopped in Grafton Way, Ipswich after he had drove "several pints" of lager. He was found to have 107 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, the legal limit is 80 mcgs.

Then on April 4, he was stopped again, this time on the Main Road in Chelmondiston at 11.10pm. On this occasion he gave a reading of 72 mcgs of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, more than double the legal limit of 35mcgs.

Ian Duckworth, mitigating, said: "There were no reports of dangerous driving. Mr Morley is 29 and it is quite clear he has a long-standing drinking problem."

"I urge you (the magistrates) to come down on the side of a community penalty."

Bench chairman Ken Turner told Morley: "On March 30 you decided to drive with excess alcohol and, looking at your antecedents, that was the third time. Then on April 4, some five days after, with the words of the police station still ringing in your ears, you decided to commit the same offence again.

"Only custody can be justified to protect the public from serious harm from you."

Morley was jailed for three months and disqualified from driving for five years for his drink driving offences. He will also have to take an extended driving test to get his licence back.

He was also jailed for one month for the common assault, an incident that resulted in his partner having a bloodied nose. However this jail term will run concurrently with his punishment for the drink driving offences.