A MAN drove after drinking while struggling to come to terms with the breakdown of his marriage.
A court heard Martin Dilnot was three-and-a-half times over the legal limit when he smashed his car into a lamppost.
He was yesterday spared jail after Kirklees magistrates heard how he had been suffering depression at the time.
Dilnot crashed his Kia Rio into a central reservation at Union Street in Heckmondwike on January 28.
Carole Lawford, prosecuting, said that the 35-year-old received soft tissue injuries and was being treated in an ambulance when police arrived at the scene.
The officers suspected that he had been drinking and blood samples showed that he had 300 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.
The legal limit is 80mg.
The Huddersfield bench was told that Dilnot, of Lincoln Grove Liversedge, was previously banned from the road after drink-driving in May 2006.
Simon Lindley, defending said that his client had just been through an acrimonious divorce.
He said that the trauma of this had led to him seeking help from his GP and being prescribed medication for depression.
Mr Lindley said that on the night of the accident the senior technician had been invited to a house party and originally intended to stay there.
He fell asleep on the sofa but when he woke up he felt “worse mentally” and decided to go home.
Mr Lindley said: “It was a rash, foolish, spur-of-the-moment decision.
“He should have got a taxi but he simply didn’t give it another thought.
“It was a period of his life where he was at his lowest ebb and not functioning properly.”
Magistrates gave him a 16-week suspended sentence.
They also banned from driving for four years and ordered him to pay £85 court costs.
