A PERSISTENT lawbreaker who has been caught driving while disqualified 12 times and has a string of other motor offences is behind bars again after adding to his “dreadful” record of crime.

Tom Potter

A PERSISTENT lawbreaker who has been caught driving while disqualified 12 times and has a string of other motor offences is behind bars again after adding to his “dreadful” record of crime.

Darrell Lambert, who has never taken a driving test, reversed into a police car and hurtled towards an officer just seven hours after being released from jail.

The 22-year-old was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court to a total of two years in prison after driving dangerously and under the influence of alcohol while banned from the roads.

Lambert, a father of two, had completed a prison sentence for a similar crime seven hours before being seen behind the wheel attempting to shield his face from a passing patrol car.

He had been dropped off by police at his Hawke Road home in Ipswich, at 11am on May 11, but was in custody again by that evening after nearly running over a pursuing police officer.

Lambert was seen covering his face from cops as he drove along Celestion Drive, off Foxhall Road, in Ipswich, at around 6pm.

He ignored sirens and sped away before being cornered and refusing to leave the car, despite officers trying to kick the driver's-side door open.

Lambert then reversed into the police car and sped at Pc Nick Rush, who was forced to jump out of the way, before fleeing the scene.

He was eventually caught by police and denied any involvement before later admitting charges of dangerous driving, driving while disqualified until 2011 and driving without insurance.

He also pleaded guilty before magistrates on May 19 to breaching an anti-social behaviour order and drink-driving, after it was discovered he had 52 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of his breath - the legal limit being 35mcg.

Prosecutor David Wilson revealed Lambert had previously been caught driving on 12 occasions while disqualified and held seven convictions for dangerous driving and two for excess alcohol.

In sentencing Lambert on Thursday, Judge John Holt said: “Your record is dreadful and it has a persistent theme of motoring offences.”

Did Lambert receive the punishment he deserved? Write to Your Letters, The Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.