Wisbech man jailed for drink-driving offence

A Wisbech father-of-two with a “diabolical” motoring record has been jailed after being caught almost four times the drink-drive limit.

A district judge said Dainius Lizunas, who didn’t have a driving licence, had such a high reading that even walking would have been difficult.

Lizunas, 36, of Acacia Avenue, Wisbech, pleaded guilty to drink-driving, driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence and having no insurance when he appeared in court in King's Lynn yesterday.

The court heard he gave a reading of 132 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit being 35, after police spotted him parking at an odd angle near his home in Acacia Avenue on the evening of June 1.

Lizunas, 36, was first banned from driving for excess alcohol in August 2013. Five months later he was jailed for eight weeks and disqualified for four years. And in July 2016 he got a suspended sentence and a 31-month ban for driving while banned.

That disqualification had only expired four months before he committed the latest offence.

Tiffany Meredith, mitigating, said her client had been at a barbecue with his children and drove the company car “a very short distance” to his brother’s house to “take it out of the equation.”

She added: “He didn’t feel impaired at the time.”

District judge Richard Hawgood said Lizunas had a “diabolical” driving record, adding: “It’s a very, very high reading. He would have had difficulty walking, let alone driving.”

Jailing him for 90 days and disqualifying him from driving for 61 months and 15 days, Mr Hawgood said: “It’s got to be clear to you that you cannot drive and drink without being appropriately punished.

"This offence is so serious that I must, for the offence of driving with excess alcohol, send you to prison without the benefit of a pre-sentence report.”

Mr Hawgood said the original sentence was six months but he had given Lizunas a one third discount for his early guilty plea and a further month for his personal circumstances, as his wife is in full-time employment out of the area and relied on him for childcare.

Lizunas will spend half the term in custody and the other 45 days on licence. For having no driving licence and no insurance there were no separate penalties.

He was also ordered to pay £200 in costs.