A MOTORIST more than three times the legal drink drive limit has been given a suspended jail term.

At Newcastle Magistrates' Court on May 19, Robert William Blakeburn (49), of Biverfield Road, Prudhoe, was sentenced to 10 weeks in custody, suspended for 18 months, after admitting a charge of driving with excess alcohol.

On October 19 last year, Blakeburn was driving on Wylam Wood Road, in Wylam, with 123 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.

Blakeburn had denied the charge at an earlier hearing, but changed his plea to guilty.

In addition to the suspended jail sentence, he was ordered to abstain from alcohol for a period of 40 days.

Blakeburn was banned from driving for four years, and he must pay court costs of £400 and a victim surcharge of £128.