(Image: Newsquest)
A Darlington motorist who drove while disqualified and failed to stop for police has been given a suspended jail sentence and banned from the roads for almost three years.
Mark Appleby, 42, of Meadowsweet Lane, Darlington, admitted driving a Ford Mondeo on Woodlands Road while disqualified on April 13.
He also pleaded guilty, at Peterlee Magistrates' Court, to driving without insurance and failing to stop for police that day at a nearby fuelling station.
On October 2, Appleby received an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for twelve months due to what the court described as a “realistic prospect of rehabilitation”.
Appleby was also ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work under court supervision and was banned from driving for 33 months.
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The court said the suspended term was necessary because of Appleby’s “flagrant disregard for court orders”.
He was ordered to pay £85 in costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.
His guilty pleas were taken into account.