EX-ENGLAND star Jesse Lingard has apologised after he admitted drink-driving in his £200,000 Lamborghini – and was fined £57,000.
The former Manchester United footballer, 30, had only owned the flash motor for three months when he was stopped by cops on July 8 in Manchester while double the alcohol limit.
Tara Riley, prosecuting, said that an officer who was following his Lamborghini Uris became aware it was being driven at speed.
The the officer’s “initial belief”, she said, was Lingard’s vehicle was racing another high-performance car.
“He doesn’t believe 100 per cent they were racing but they were driving at speed,” she said.
She said the officer spoke to Lingard at the roadside and believed he was under the influence of alcohol due to his behaviour.
Read More Football
A breath test revealed 76 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 35 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath.
Frank Rogers, representing Lingard, described the player’s actions as “out of character”.
Mr Rogers said Lingard had initially been out for a meal with friends and only drunk soft drinks.
He’d intended going home but had then received a call from a “fellow professional footballer” and driven to Manchester to have a “few drinks” with him.
Most read in Football
Mr Rogers said Lingard had “mistakenly” believed he had left sufficient time to drive home, describing it as “spontaneous decision”.
A personal assistant, who would normally drive Lingard in such circumstances, wasn’t working, he said.
Mr Rogers denied Lingard had been “racing” and the two-“high-performance cars” were sitting at lights at the time
He said Lingard had shown remorse for his actions and it was “apparent how heavily this weighs on him”.
Mr Rogers said that his client would pay a “heavy price” in the future as his career and family – to whom he has large financial commitments- would be impacted.
He added that Lingard – who is currently without a club after being released by Nottingham Forest – was training with West Ham, who were considering offering him a contract, and other offers were “in the pipeline”.
When pressed by district judge Joanne Hirst how much Lingard currently earned, Mr Rogers told the court it was £249,000 a month, or £57,000 a week.
The judge told Lingard the case had aggravating features, including him being twice over the limit, saying: “One wonders who would have cared for your entire family had you killed yourself or someone else.”
The judge told him that he would be punished in the same way as anyone else before the court – a week’s earnings.
She also added a £2,000 victim surcharge, meaning Lingard must £59,000 in total, and banned him from driving for 18-months, to run concurrently with an existing six-month ban.
Lingard said in a statement: “I want to acknowledge my mistake and publicly apologise for my unacceptable actions.
“I completely understand and accept the consequences of my mistake by putting the lives of others at risk.
“I am sorry to all my fans anyone who has followed and supported me throughout my career.
“I accept the sentence of the court and the fine.”
It is the second time Lingard will appear before magistrates in less than two months.
He was previously banned from driving after he failed to name the driver when his car was caught speeding.
The midfielder’s Range Rover was flashed by a speed camera on the A56 in Trafford last year.
Lingard, 30, then failed to give police the the name of the driver when he received a speeding notice at his home.
He pleaded guilty to failing to provide information about who was driving his vehicle at Manchester Magistrates’ Court.
The star was fined £900 with a further £560 in costs and banned from the roads for six months.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
The ban came under a “totting up” process as Lingard already had points on his licence from two previous speeding offences.
His lawyer claimed he was not the driver but missed the letter telling him to provide the drivers’ details as it went to his old address in Manchester while he was then living in Nottingham.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
