A BANNED driver, who left the country prior to a scheduled court hearing for breaching a suspended sentence, has now been jailed shortly after his return to the UK.

Darren Clarkson, now 30, was said to have “done a flit” to Cyprus in fear for his life after an arson attack on his home in Fourth Street, Horden, County Durham, last summer.

Durham Crown Court heard that he thought whoever was responsible was after him and it was only later that he discovered it was part of a vendetta against his landlord, and not him.

The court was told that while in Cyprus, Clarkson was due before magistrates in County Durham for driving while disqualified, an offence committed on March 28 last year.

Anthony Pettengell, prosecuting, said he was recognised on CCTV driving a Volkswagen Golf, with a female passenger, from his home in Horden to a takeaway restaurant drive-through facility in nearby Peterlee.

When interviewed later that day he denied being the driver and asked police why they had not stopped him at the time.

He initially pleaded not guilty to driving while disqualified and breaching a previous suspended prison sentence.

A trial date was set at the magistrates’ court in August.

But on the day of his trial he was not present, as he was in Cyprus, and indicated by telephone to his solicitor at court, however, that he was by then admitting the offence.

Sentence was adjourned to a hearing scheduled on September 3, but as he remained in Cyprus by then, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Mr Pettengell said after Clarkson’s return to the UK he was arrested two days later, on February 3, after handing himself in to police.

The case was sent to the crown court for his failure to surrender to bail, last year.

Mr Pettengell said the suspended prison sentence was imposed on Clarkson, in May 2020, for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, by falsely claiming to have been driving a car previously, taking the blame on someone else’s behalf.

Elizabeth Muir, for Clarkson, said he fled to Cyprus wrongly thinking someone was targeting him, after the arson attack, but described it as, “no jolly”, as he worked landscaping and building while on the Mediterranean island.

Read more: County Durham: Two house fires in Horden treated as arson

Miss Muir said he has already found work concreting for a building company on his return to this country.

She said he “went off the rails” in recent years with motoring offences, but she urged Judge Ray Singh not to activate the suspended sentence.

Judge Singh said, however, that within months of the suspended sentence being imposed, Clarkson breached it and he found nothing unjust in activating at least part of that sentence.

Telling Clarkson: “I’m afraid you have brought this on yourself,” he imposed a six-month immediate sentence and banned him from driving for a further 15 months.

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow our dedicated County Durham Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054