A BELLINGHAM farmer has been handed a prison sentence for drink driving after being caught for the fifth time.

Matthew Jeffrey was stopped on the A68, near Colwell, on February 28 – just six weeks after receiving a suspended sentence for his fourth offence.

The 41-year-old was found to have 91 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath – over double the legal limit of 35 microgrammes.

This was his fifth drink driving offence since 2004 and his fourth since 2012.

Jeffrey, formerly of Broomhope Farm Cottage, Bellingham, but now of no fixed abode, was given a five-year driving ban and a suspended prison sentence on January 12, and also appeared at South East Northumberland Magistrates’ Court on March 1.

He has now been jailed for 42 weeks, banned from the roads for 10 years and ordered to pay a £115 victim surcharge.