A MAN who drowned his sorrows after the break-up of his third marriage escaped a jail sentence yesterday - despite being told his drink-drive reading was one of the highest a court had seen.

Graham Kell was found to be just below four times the legal limit when he crashed his car into a vehicle parked near his home in Grove Park Terrace, Harrogate, on the afternoon of Sunday, May 6.

Tests showed Kell, 49, who had been followed by police before the collision, had 135 microgrammes of alcohol in his breath, compared with the limit of 35, Nick Ralph, prosecuting, told Harrogate magistrates.

When he admitted drink-driving and being uninsured court chairman Bernadette Reid told Kell she had considered sending him to prison.

Instead, she imposed an 18-month community rehabilitation order coupled with 75 hours of community punishment work and banned him from the roads for three years.

Kell must also pay £60 costs.

Mrs Reid told him: "The amount you had consumed gave one of the highest readings we have ever seen."

In mitigation, Simon Crosfield said Kell, who had lost his job, was hoping to begin work with a taxi firm, looking after its radio operation.

He had spoiled an unblemished driving record stretching back 30 years when he got behind the wheel instead of taking a taxi the half-mile from the pub to his home.

Kell had been depressed after his third marriage had broken down. He had been so upset he had tried to kill himself with an overdose of painkillers and had spent ten days in hospital recovering.