A PARISH councillor who admitted possession of a knife and being nearly FOUR times over the drink drive limit has been handed a suspended prison sentence and banned from driving for 48 months.

David Foxwell, who serves on Hurn Parish Council, appeared at Poole Magistrates’ Court. It was the 69-year-old’s FIFTH drink drive conviction in the past 21 years.

When the Echo approached Foxwell at his home address to ask if he was considering his position on the council, he made no comment and asked us to leave. Meanwhile, parish council chairman Margaret Phipps has also declined to comment on the councillor’s future.

Magistrates heard how Foxwell, of Lakeridge Cottage, Pitthouse Lane, Hurn, had an open bottle of vodka in the footwell of his Mazda car and appeared intoxicated when police approached him on October 9, last year.

Initially, a member the public witnessed Foxwell’s black Mazda car colliding with a brick wall in Arthur Road, Christchurch, around 1pm, the court was told last Tuesday.

The son-in-law of this witness then drove after Foxwell in his own car, and discovered the defendant pulled over in a bus stop on Fairmile Road with significant damage to the front of his Mazda.

Police were called and after a quick search, a locking knife was found in Foxwell’s trouser pocket.

He was taken to the police station where a blood sample was taken, which revealed 315mg alcohol in 100ml of blood – the legal limit is 80mg. Foxwell then replied ‘no comment’ throughout the subsequent interview.

Ian Daly, defending, told the court Foxwell, a married father-of-four and grandfather-of-three, acknowledged drinking had caused him “lots of problems.”

“He (Foxwell) worked overseas where there was a culture of drinking,” Mr Daly said. “But it was the death of his eldest daughter that has troubled him greatly.” His daughter died in 2011 after being diagnosed with aggressive bowel cancer.

On the lock knife, Mr Daly said his client was “of the generation that carried a pen knife as a boy” and was unaware the dimensions of the knife made it illegal.

Magistrates sentenced Foxwell to four weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months. He was also banned from driving for four years, ordered to complete 80 hours unpaid work and attend alcohol treatment. Additionally, he was fined £100 for possession of a knife, ordered to pay £85 victim surcharge and £85 costs. Foxwell used to own and run Winkton Garage.

He is currently listed online as a member of Hurn Parish Council.

His parish website biography reads: “David was born in Christchurch and is a family man with four children.

“He has lived in Hurn for the last twenty five years and was educated at Twynham School with further education at Salisbury and South Wilts College where he studied agricultural engineering.

“Having spent five years in Liberia West Africa, he returned to UK 1980 and has worked locally since then.”