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Jesse Lingard has apologised for ‘putting the lives of others at risk’ after he admitted drink-driving in his £200,000 Lamborghini.
The former Manchester United and England star, 30, was today fined a week’s wages – £57,000 – for being more than twice over the legal limit.
Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard how Lingard was driving in Sale, Greater Manchester, on July 8, this year, when he was stopped by a police.
Tara Riley, prosecuting, said that an officer who was following his Lamborghini Uris became aware it was being driven at speed.
The officer’s ‘initial belief’, she said, was Lingard’s vehicle was racing another high-performance car.
‘He doesn’t believe 100 per cent they were racing but they were driving at speed,’ she said.
Jesse Lingard has apologised for ‘putting the lives of others at risk’ after he admitted drink-driving in his £200,000 Lamborghini. Pictured: The former football star outside Manchester Magistrates Court today
The former Manchester United and England star, 30, was today fined a week’s wages – £57,000 – for being more than twice over the legal limit
The footballer pictured driving his Lamorghini which was involved in his arrest earlier this year
She said the officer spoke to Lingard at the roadside and believed he was under the influence of alcohol due to his behaviour.
A breath test revealed 76 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 35 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath.
Frank Rogers, representing Lingard, described the player’s actions as ‘out of character’.
Mr Rogers said Lingard, who pleaded guilty to a charged of drink0-driving, had initially been out for a meal with friends and only drunk soft drinks.
He’d intended going home but had then received a call from a ‘fellow professional footballer’ and driven to Manchester to have a ‘few drinks’ with him.
Mr Rogers said Lingard had ‘mistakenly’ believed he had left sufficient time to drive home, describing it as ‘spontaneous decision’.
A personal assistant, who would normally drive Lingard in such circumstances, wasn’t working, he said.
Mr Rogers denied Lingard had been ‘racing’ and the two-‘high-performance cars’ were sitting at lights at the time
He said Lingard had shown remorse for his actions and it was ‘apparent how heavily this weighs on him’.
The football star has had his car wrapped several times. Pictured: Lingard in Cheshire in April
A breath test revealed 76 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath – the legal limit is 35 micrograms per 100 millilitres of breath
Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard how Lingard was driving in Sale, Greater Manchester, on July 8, this year, when he was stopped by a police
Mr Rogers said that his client would pay a ‘heavy price’ in the future as his career and family – to whom he has large financial commitments- would be impacted.
He added that Lingard – who is currently without a club after being released by Nottingham Forest – was training with West Ham, who were considering offering him a contract, and other offers were ‘in the pipeline’.
When pressed by district judge Joanne Hirst how much Lingard currently earned, Mr Rogers told the court it was £249,000 a month, or £57,000 a week.
The judge told Lingard the case had aggravating features, including him being twice over the limit, saying: ‘One wonders who would have cared for your entire family had you killed yourself or someone else.’
The judge told him that he would be punished in the same way as anyone else before the court – a week’s earnings.
She also added a £2,000 victim surcharge, meaning Lingard must £59,000 in total, and banned him from driving for 18-months, to run concurrently with an existing six-month ban.
Lingard said in a statement: ‘I want to acknowledge my mistake and publicly apologise for my unacceptable actions.
‘I completely understand and accept the consequences of my mistake by putting the lives of others at risk.
‘I am sorry to all my fans anyone who has followed and supported me throughout my career.
‘I accept the sentence of the court and the fine.’
The drink-drive incident happened three weeks before Lingard was given a six-month driving ban after he admitted failing to give details of who was driving his Range Rover when it was caught speeding.
A previous court hearing, in April this year, heard how the name of fictitious man, living at a non-existent address and allegedly linked to a notorious scam was given on behalf of the player.
Stockport Magistrates’ Court was told how a Range Rover Sport registered in Lingard’s name was flashed by a speed camera on the A56 in Trafford in August, last year.
A notice of intended prosecution (NIP) requesting the details of the driver was then sent to his address.
But around two weeks later, an online nomination made using an email address ‘linked’ to Lingard’s Instagram account gave the driver’s name as George Bolt.
The court was told that Mr Bolt ‘doesn’t exist’, while the address provided was believed to be a car park.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) had also identified the name as being ‘linked to a so-called NIP farm’..
NIP ‘farms’ are a notorious scam whereby drivers and businesses pay criminals to supply them with fictitious details in a bid to avoid being fined or getting points on their licence for motoring offences.
Lingard did not appear at that hearing but his lawyer Mr Rogers told Manchester Magistrates’ Court in July that his client was not driving the car and had been unaware that a NIP had been sent to his £3.4million mansion because he was not living there at the time after moving to Nottingham Forest.
Mr Rogers said Lingard was not responsible for the email which had identified Mr Bolt as the driver.
But he said Lingard accepted that the ‘system’ he had in place to handle mail sent to his main address ‘wasn’t good enough’.
Lingard was fined £900 for failing to provide information relating to the driver of his car and given six penalty points on his driving licence.
As he already had six points on his licence, that meant he was liable to be disqualified from driving.
