Ex-Wolves boss Dean Saunders freed from jail one day into 10-week sentence

Former Wolves manager and Aston Villa striker Dean Saunders has been freed from jail one day into a 10-week sentence for failing to provide a breath specimen when stopped by police while driving.

The 55-year-old, who was manager at Molineux in 2013 and played for Villa in the mid-90s, looked crestfallen when he realised he was going to jail on Wednesday after admitting at Chester Magistrates’ Court failing to comply with a roadside breath test and failing to provide a breath specimen.

Police had stopped him after spotting his car veering across the road in the early hours of May 10 this year in Boughton, Chester.

On Thursday, his lawyers launched a bail application, held in private without access to press or public.

Judge Steven Everett granted Saunders bail until his appeal against the jail sentence is heard on October 4, according to the court clerk, approached by the PA news agency after the hearing had ended and the court reopened to press and public.

The details were confirmed by Saunders’s solicitor, Conor Johnstone, who added: “Clearly, he will be relieved.”

No bail conditions were imposed, Mr Johnstone said.

The father of three had been branded “arrogant” by District Judge Nicholas Sanders, passing sentence on Wednesday, who told Saunders he had shown no remorse and thought he was “above the law”.

Lawyers for Saunders, who also played for Liverpool and Derby County and was capped by Wales 75 times, said he was “in shock” at being jailed and immediately said they would appeal against the sentence.

The talkSPORT radio football pundit had pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing but on Wednesday admitted to two offences.

Saunders said he had been out at Chester Races and had drunk three pints over the day before getting in his Audi A8 and deciding to drive, Chester Magistrates’ Court heard.

He was seen shortly before 1am by a police patrol weaving across the road, swerving to avoid other vehicles and almost causing an accident.

Officers who arrested him said there was a smell of “intoxicants” and Saunders was slurring his speech and had to steady himself against his car when he was asked to get out of the vehicle.

He refused three times to give a roadside breath test and was arrested.

Saunders again failed to provide a specimen at the police station.

He was likely to have served his sentence at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool but is now free to return to his home in Whitegate, a village in Cheshire.

He was also banned from driving for 30 months and ordered to pay court costs of £620.

His appeal against his sentence will be heard at Chester Crown Court on October 4.