Alcoholic ex-Rangers star hit with ban for drink-driving
FORMER Rangers footballer Ray Wilkins has told a court he is an alcoholic who has no choice but to stay away from booze or face ruining his life, as he was given a four-year ban for drink-driving.
The 59-year-old pleaded guilty to the offence at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court after being found to have been three times over the limit. A member of the public spotted him driving his Mercedes in the middle of the road and straddling a bus lane along the A4 northern perimeter road in London on July 1.
He was seen striking a kerb and swigging alcohol from the bottle behind the wheel. The member of the public then took his keys away when the car stopped, in order to prevent a possible accident.
District j udge Tim Boswell gave Wilkins, who has two previous drink-driving convictions dating back to 2013, a 10week suspended prison sentence, ordered him to do 140 hours’ unpaid community work and disqualified him from driving for 48 months.
Standing in the dock, Wilkins said: “Abstinence is the only way I can cure this situation.”
Wilkins’ lawyer Sarah-Kate McIntyre told the court of his long-running battle against alcoholism, saying the former topflight f ootballer was “ashamed and embarrassed” to be in the dock. He believes he “blacked out”, she said.
Ms McIntyre said that Wilkins appreciates the “danger he caused to himself and the public” as well as the hardship he has caused his family, and that he “accepts full responsibility” for the offence.
Wilkins, who was found to have 100mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath, is on an intensive residential rehabilitation course at the Priory Hospital in Woking, Surrey. On the offence, Ms McIntyre said that Wilkins “does not remember anything” that happened as he left a charity event.
The member of the public flagged down a police car on the night he spotted Wilkins drink- driving.
A police officer noticed that the ex-footballer’s eyes were “glazed, he was unsteady on his feet and there was a smell of alcohol” coming from him, according to prosecutor Izolda Gribbin.
Getting to his feet in the dock, Wilkins told the judge that his previous treatment with Sporting Chance had been “residential but nowhere near as intense as I am doing now”.
The judge said he appreciated that Wilkins had a “genuine desire to change”. Wilkins responded by saying “Absolutely” as the judge spoke directly to him.
He was also ordered to pay £85 costs and a £115