Footballer Lee Bowyer walked free from court yesterday after the prosecution accepted a police car's speed recording equipment was incorrectly calibrated.

However, the Newcastle United player was banned from driving for the third time in four years after admitting driving at almost 100mph.

Bowyer, represented in court by celebrity lawyer Nick Freeman, had been accused of driving his silver Porsche 911 at an average of 112mph along a one-mile stretch of the A1, near Morpeth, Northumberland in July last year, during which he was accused of reaching 132mph.

Police and the prosecution yesterday accepted the recording was inaccurate because mile markings on the road were out by 26 yards.

The 29-year-old player was, therefore, charged with driving at an average of 99mph along a six-mile stretch of the road, based on video evidence from a police car.

Yesterday, he pleaded guilty to speeding, at South East Northumberland Magistrates' Court, in Hexham.

Bowyer was banned from driving for six weeks, fined £650 and ordered to pay £100 court costs.

The court heard Bowyer was banned four years ago under the totting-up procedure, after breaking the 70mph speed limit. He was disqualified for 42 days in March last year, after he was caught doing 96mph.

Mr Freeman has represented celebrities accused of motoring offences including EastEnders star Steve McFadden, snooker ace Ronnie O'Sullivan and England footballers David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand.

He told the court: "As a speeding matter, it is not of the most serious, although as my client is a professional footballer you can see this attracts a lot of media attention. My client has to deal with this and this is the price he has to pay."

After the case, Manchester-based Mr Freeman said: "My client is very happy with the result."

Asked whether he thought the £650 fine was not much compared with the footballer's salary, believed to be about £40,000 a week, Mr Freeman said: "There will certainly be those that say this was not a lot but that is what the magistrates imposed, but it obviously is a lot for someone like me or you."

After the case, Northumbria Police insisted there was no possibility that other drivers caught with the equipment were wrongly convicted.

A force spokesman said: "The tolerances we work to when recording speed for possible prosecution mean that we take account of such slight variations in calibration."

Zoe Ward, of road safety campaign group Brake, said: "One of the dangers of this type of incident is that it makes speeding drivers believe they can beat the system and that should never be the case."