Prem star is jailed

FORMER Norwich City striker Leon Mckenzie has said depression and being in a “bad place” led to him being jailed for sending bogus letters to the police in a bid to avoid a driving ban.

The 33-year-old, of Northampton, was sentenced to six months in prison yesterday after admitting sending the letters to police in an attempt to avoid speeding convictions.

In a statement released after he was sentenced, the exPremiership footballer, who has now started a new career in music, said he had various work and personal problems at the time and “couldn’t always make sense of what was going on”.

He went on: “At that time I fell deep into depression, which led me to try and take my life.

“My behaviour towards certain things like these speeding offences were totally unacceptable.”

Mckenzie admitted six charges of pervert- ing the course of justice at a hearing earlier this year after sending letters to Nor t hamptonshire Police to avoid six speeding fines between February 2008 and December 2009.

The letters, which purported to be from a fictional London garage, claimed Mckenzie’s car was off the road.