A driver clocked doing 129mph on the A14 has been banned for six months.

Stephen Morgan, 43 and of Cullingham Road, Ipswich, admitted driving his Porsche Boxster 59mph above the speed limit at Sproughton in August 2016 at South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

The court heard Morgan, a self-employed builder, was driving home with his wife in the passenger seat at the time of the offence.

His sentence is the more than double that of Suffolk’s top speeder to date Louie Howlett, 21, from Lakenheath, banned for 56 days after being clocked doing 154mph on the A11 at Icklingham in April 2016.

Suffolk’s police and crime commissioner Tim Passmore said speeders need to wake up to the fact they are not just risking their own lives, but others too.

“Yet again, here we are talking about excessively high speeds on our roads. When will these drivers learn,” he said.

“I hope this driving ban will focus this driver’s thoughts when he does get back behind the wheel, for everyone’s sake.”

Morgan’s solicitor, Shelley Drew, told the court that on August 28, 2016 he clocked the speed while another driver was tailgating him.

The 43-year-old’s wife was getting upset about what would happen, she said, so he accelerated to get away from the other driver.

“Obviously this speed of 129mph is off the scale so to speak,” she told the court.

“He was deeply shocked by it and has been extremely remorseful for what happened.”

Morgan had sent a letter to the court to admit the offence.

In it, he confirmed he had sold his Porsche, took the crime very seriously and referred to his speeding as a “moment of stupidity”.

He already had three points on his licence for travelling at 79mph in a 70mph zone, but Mrs Drew said a driving ban could be detrimental to Morgan and his business.

She asked magistrates to be aware that his Porsche – which has a top speed of 177mph – is capable of reaching such high speeds.

The 43-year-old also pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, she added.

Sentencing him with a six-month driving ban and a £811 fine, chair Fiona Denny said: “We do believe that the speed was excessive and a danger to other road users. You also put your passenger, your wife’s life at risk.”

Morgan was ordered to pay a fine of £666, costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £66.

Suffolk’s top speeders to date

Last August Louie Howlett, 21, from Lakenheath, was banned for 56 days after being clocked doing 154mph on the A11 at Icklingham in Suffolk in April.

He was driving a Seat Leon Cupra when he was stopped by police. Officers said they believed it to be the highest recorded speed on a Suffolk road.

Appearing at Bury St Edmunds Magistrates’ Court, Howlett was also ordered to pay £365.

In the same month at Bury St Edmunds Magistrates’ Court Stephen Higgins, 40, of Church Road, Tostock, admitted speeding on a Honda motorbike at 133mph on the A14 at Higham.

He was banned for three months and fined £50.

In October 2015 motorcyclist Lee Rogers, 33, of Lacey Street, Ipswich, was disqualified from driving for 70 days after admitting travelling at 133mph on the A14 at Higham the previous May.

South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court also ordered him to pay a £400 fine.