An Ipswich man has been jailed after committing his fourth drink-driving offence only seven months after he was convicted of being drunk while riding a mobility scooter.
Edward Van Bishop, of Woodbridge Road, Ipswich, received a total of 24 months’ imprisonment at King’s Lynn Crown Court for a string of offences spanning two different cases.
As well as drink-driving, having no insurance and driving while disqualified, the 24-year-old had been convicted of dangerous driving following a trial at Ipswich Crown Court.
He was also sentenced at King’s Lynn for a separate case of assaulting a man at The Case is Altered pub in Woodbridge Road, Ipswich, three offences of criminal damage, and threatening behaviour.
In addition to his jail term Van Bishop was disqualified from driving for four years.
The driving offences occurred in January after he had been to visit his mother in Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
A police officer followed Van Bishop’s red Jaguar after seeing him pull out of the entrance to a business park with the wheels spinning and the rear of the car “fishtailing”.
The officer saw Van Bishop overtake a van by driving over a mini roundabout and saw the rear of the car fishtail again as it turned into another road.
Van Bishop had lost control of the car at the junction with another road and ended up sideways in the mouth of the road.
He reversed in the direction of the police car forcing the driver to move out of the way.
Van Bishop then crashed into a parked car before driving into a dead end road and running off.
A breath test after his arrest found he had 61microgrammes of alcohol in 100millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 35mcg.
At his trial Van Bishop accepted he had driven carelessly but denied his driving was dangerous.
He said he had wanted to get away from the police officer who was following him because he had been drinking.
Van Bishop failed to turn up for the trial’s final day. Deputy Circuit Judge Peter Jacobs issued a warrant for Van Bishop’s arrest while sentencing was adjourned.
Van Bishop was also sentenced for hitting a man at The Case is Altered pub in Ipswich at around 11.30pm on August 29 last year.
Van Bishop was reported to have left the pub, pushing over a motorbike in Khartoum Road before being arrested.
He then damaged a police car as well as a medical bin and examination light at Ipswich Hospital.
All the offences put Van Bishop in breach of a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, imposed in June last year for drink driving while riding a mobility scooter.
On that occasion South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court heard he was seen riding the scooter on a path by a police officer in an unmarked car in Woodbridge Road East, Ipswich at around 2am on April 21 last year.
Van Bishop was banned from driving for three years after the court heard he was more than twice the drink-drive limit.
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