A BANNED motorist who took his mother’s car for a drive late at night without her consent has been told he was lucky not to be jailed.

The defence lawyer who represented 28-year-old Aspatria man Rhys Greenhow told magistrates that the offences were committed shortly after the death of the defendant’s grandmother, to whom he was very close.

Greenhow, from North View, Aspatria, pleaded guilty disqualified driving, taking his mother’s BMW car without her consent, failing to provide a breath specimen for analysis, and driving with no valid insurance.

Prosecutor George Shelley told Carlisle’s Rickergate court that the defendant’s mother returned home on March 20 and discovered that her car was missing. Her son Rhys had taken the car without asking.

The keys had been in the pocket of her coat in the house. The discovery was followed by a series of calls between her and her son, who was verbally abusive, said Mr Shelley.

The defendant’s mother confirmed that she believed her son had been drinking. The BMW was found nearby at 3am, with the keys left in the centre console.

Mr Shelley said: “He was arrested at 3am for taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent and driving while disqualified. He had bloodshot eyes and he was slurring his words.”

At Workington police station, Greenhow refused to provide a breath specimen so that it could be analysed for its alcohol content. The court heard that he was prosecuted for driving with excess alcohol in 2017 and for drug driving last year.

A probation officer who interviewed Greenhow told magistrates: “He deeply regrets these offences and expresses remorse.

“He’d been out drinking with his father and then gone back home but could not get in. He tells me his grandmother had passed away after suffering from cancer for 12 months; and in the last three weeks she became very ill.

“He was very close to his grandmother… and he took her death very badly. He was using alcohol as a coping mechanism.”  He had been drinking alcohol and using cocaine but since the offences he had “turned things around.”

His mother initially told him to leave but had now taken him back in and he had cut down dramatically on his alcohol and cocaine use, added the officer.

Mark Shepherd, defending, said the defendant’s parents, though estranged, were both in court to support him and his mother had written a letter of support for her son to the court.

“He has been incredibly foolish and immature,” said the lawyer.

Greenhow was drinking and taking substances to block out negative emotions, but his mother had reported a “dramatic change” in her son’s behaviour since the incident. She had done one of the hardest things a parent could do by reporting him to the police but he understood why she did that.

“It’s tough love,” said Mr Shepherd.

Presiding magistrate Keith Southward told Greenhow: “You are extremely fortunate that tonight you are not boarding a prison van and going to Durham because these offences are so serious that they cross the custody threshold.”

It was the information and support he was given by his parents, his employer, the probation officer and his defence lawyer that had persuaded magistrates to draw back from imposing immediate custody, said Mr Southward.

Magistrates imposed a ten-week jail term, suspended for a year. This includes a 120-day alcohol abstinence requirement, which will be electronically monitored. He was given a four-year driving ban as well as costs of £85 and a £156 victim surcharge.