A NEWPORT man will go to prison for 15 weeks after he was caught driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Steven Ronald Jennick, 52, of Commercial Road, Newport, was almost four times the legal limit when he stopped by police in Chepstow driving a silver BMW on July 11.

A roadside breath test showed 139 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath (the legal limit is 35 microgrammes).

Appearing before Caerphilly magistrates, Jennick had already admitted driving while over the legal alcohol limit, while disqualified and without insurance.

Mr Sage, mitigating, said Jennick had been disqualified from driving since 1994, but it had been "beyond his comprehension"

to understand that he needed to sit an extended driving test before getting behind the wheel again.

The court heard Jennick had suffered from depression since a marriage break-up in 2008 and an incident where he was almost hit by a train.

Magistrates sentenced Jennick to 15 weeks' custody for driving with excess alcohol, 10 weeks for driving while disqualified, 14 days' custody for court fines, and seven days for failure to surrender, all to be served concurrently.

He was disqualified from driving for 36 months. No separate penalty was issued for driving without insurance.