A SERIAL motoring offender has paid the price for continual breaches of court orders, following his 15th conviction for driving while disqualified.

Durham Crown Court was told Iain Boddy was subject of two suspended prison sentences imposed last year, both for driving while disqualified, a ban which does not expire until 2023.

He was pulled over, again, by police while at the wheel of a Volvo car, in Gray Street, Eldon Lane, near Bishop Auckland, at 12.40pm on March 14.

Uzma Khan, prosecuting, said he was interviewed at the roadside and admitted being a disqualified driver, without insurance or road tax, so he was cautioned and arrested.

Miss Khan said it came little more than a fortnight after his arrest at his home in Shildon, on other, unrelated matters.

Boddy was taken to Darlington Police Station where, as his clothing was being checked in the cell area, a small plastic snap bag, containing white powder, fell from his boxer shorts.

He tried to pick it up but it was intercepted and he was arrested on suspicion of drug possession.

Boddy made no comment but tests confirmed the white powder was a half-gram of cocaine.

Miss Khan said Boddy has, “a considerable history”, featuring 33 convictions for 70 offences.

She said many were for theft and other dishonesty, but the record also features a large number of road traffic matters, “practically every year since 2006”, with 14 previous offences of driving while disqualified.

Boddy, 38, of Redworth Road, Shildon, admitted the latest disqualified driving charge, plus no insurance and possession of a class A drug.

Miss Khan said both were two-month sentences and remained active for two years.

Mark Styles, for Boddy, said the defendant’s account was that he was clearing out a yard and allotment, and was using an old Volvo, “he should have scrapped a long time ago”, for a half-mile run, when, “he had the misfortune” to be stopped by police.

“There were no other aggravating features of his driving, but, of course, it is persistent.”

Imposing a six-month sentence, including the two-month suspended sentence, Judge James Adkin told Boddy: “You are unable to, or don’t seem to think the road traffic laws as they apply to all of us, apply to you.

“Well, I’m afraid they do.”

The existing disqualification remains in place until 2023.