A DRIVER was locked up for 15 months yesterday after he twice gave police a false name and led to an innocent man being arrested.

Teenager Stephen Seaman gave an incorrect name when police stopped him behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta on June 24 last year, and he failed to produce an insurance certificate. A month later, Seaman, 18, failed a breath test when driving another car and gave the same false name, said Harry Hadfield, prosecuting.

The other man was arrested at home in front of his father as he protested his innocence. He was detained at a police station before police established through photographs that he was not the driver who had been stopped. He was eventually told on December 31 that he was in the clear.

Teesside Crown Court was told that Seaman gave his true name when he was arrested on February 12, driving a Peugeot car which had been filled with £10 of diesel at the Priory Garage, Cannon Park, Middlesbrough which had not been paid for.

Seaman admitted stealing the diesel and having no insurance and was disqualified from driving on October 15 last year. He said that he gave the false information twice because there was a warrant out for him.

Jonnie Walker, mitigating, said that Seaman wanted to apologise to the other man and his family.

Seaman, of Lime Road, Teesville, was sent to a young offenders' institution for 15 months and disqualified from driving for two years after he admitted two charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice, two of driving without insurance, one driving while disqualified and theft of fuel.