Telford Porsche driver gets suspended jail sentence for getting behind the wheel while banned

Magistrates were told that sending Gerrad Akowuah, aged 35, from Telford, to prison would have a harmful effect on his children.

But they gave him a new, longer driving ban to last four years after hearing he had also failed to provide a sample for a breath test. He also admitted that offence.

Akowuah, from Gladstone Street, Hadley, appeared at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court on Monday when the court was told that he had been found driving a Porsche Cayenne on Haybridge Road, Telford on November 19.

The magistrates decided that the offence was "so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified because it was towards the top end of the offending".

The court heard that Akowuah committed the offences having been banned earlier this year. He had been handed a 17-month driving ban at Telford Magistrates Court in July, after pleading guilty to driving a Porsche while over the alcohol limit on June 18.

Magistrates at Kidderminster this week decided that an eight-week jail sentence was justified but decided that it should be suspended for 18 months.

The court was told that the custodial sentence has been suspended because of the "harmful effect immediate custody will have on the defendant's children".

Akowuah was told that he could reduce the driving ban by 48 weeks if he completed a course.

He was handed no separate penalty for driving without insurance.

Akowuah was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £135.