A CHRISTCHURCH man caught drink driving twice in the space of three weeks has been handed a suspended jail term.

Ian Beazley, 46, was arrested as part of Dorset Police's annual Christmas crackdown, which over December this year saw 48 people charged with drink and drug driving offences across the county.

On January 15 Bournemouth Magistrates Court heard that Beazley's vehicle was stopped in Fairmile Road on December 23 and he was found to have 91 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of his breath - well over the legal limit of 35 micrograms.

He was again caught on the town's roads, this time with 64 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml breath, in Stour Road on January 14.

The defendant, of Arthur Road, was also driving without insurance or a valid test certificate on both occasions, and he failed to turn up to an earlier court hearing.

Magistrates issued Beazley, who admitted all the offences, with a 15 week jail term suspended for 12 months, an electronically-monitored curfew and a two year driving ban.

On New Year's Eve, 23-year-old Daniel Mazurek was stopped in Lulworth Avenue, Poole, and found to have 130 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml breath - nearly four times the limit.

Mazurek, of Purbeck Avenue, Poole, was handed a 12 week prison sentence suspended for 12 months at the same court, with 200 hours unpaid work, and was banned from driving for three years.

Other drink drivers sentenced recently by Bournemouth magistrates include David Wilson, 58, who was fined £400 and disqualified for three years after being caught driving in Wellington Road, Bournemouth, on December 29 with 45 micrograms of alcohol in his breath. Wilson, of Wilson Road, Springbourne, also admitted the offence.

Romas Bukinas, 29, of Studland Road, Bournemouth, was fined £220 and banned from the road for 12 months after he admitted failing to provide a specimen for analysis when driving in Bath Road on December 30.

Jason Childs, 46, was also stopped on New Year's Eve, in Brook Road, Bournemouth, with 65 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml breath.

Childs, of Anstey Road, Bear Cross, pleaded guilty and was fined £235 and disqualified for 18 months.

Philip Kidd, 35, of Ditton Street in Ilminster, was fined £160 and had his licence endorsed with 10 points after he admitted driving in Windham Road, Bournemouth, with 74 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml breath on December 19.