Fakenham man crashed stolen bike while three times drink-drive limit

A banned driver who took a motorcycle without the owner’s consent crashed it while almost three times the alcohol limit.

Police attended the single-vehicle accident and found the Honda lying on its side in the middle of the A148 at Dunton.

Craig Dew, 32, failed a roadside breath test, which indicated he was almost four times the limit.

In custody, he gave a reading of 234 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood; the legal limit is 80.

Lynn Magistrates’ Court was told on Thursday that he had been disqualified from driving in December 2019 for excess alcohol.

Dew, of Lancaster Avenue, Fakenham, pleaded guilty to drink-driving, driving while disqualified and taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent on July 2, 2020.

In mitigation, solicitor Alison Muir said her client had received news of a friend being taken to hospital and asked someone to borrow the Honda so he could visit them.

Miss Muir said the bike owner told him: “Ordinarily I would, but you’ve been drinking and you’re disqualified.”

She added: “Despite that Mr Dew took the motorcycle to go to the QEH. He’s only grateful that nobody was injured by his stupidity.”

Dew was disqualified from driving for 40 months, which can be cut with completion of a drink-driver rehabilitation course.

He was also handed a 12-month community order with 280 hours’ unpaid work and ordered to pay £105 costs and £95 victim surcharge.