Former CID chief's drink drive ban

Daughtery, 53, of Eastergate, who pleaded guilty, was fined 250 and disqualified from driving for a year.

Richard Stevenson, prosecuting, told the court police saw Daughtery's Ford vehicle in Cooden Drive. He was a little over the speed limit and was stopped at Westcourt Drive.

Mr Stevenson said: "He smelled of alcohol. He was asked to take a roadside breath test and did not comply and was arrested for failing to do so."

Daughtery, he said, failed to provide breath samples for analysis at the police station and a blood sample was taken instead. It showed Daughtery had 102mgs of alcohol in 100mls of blood when the legal limit is 80mgs.

Russell Parkes, defending, said his client didn't believe he was over the limit at the time. He was a man of previous good character. "He is someone who is embarrassed to be here today," said Mr Parkes.

Daughtery himself told the court: "I am absolutely humiliated and embarrassed about being here."

Mr Parkes said his client would take advantage of the offer of a driver rehabilitation course.

If the course costing 147 is successfully completed by December 16, it will end the ban on February 16 instead of May 16 next year.

Daughtery was ordered to pay court costs of 70.

o As Det Inspector, Derryck Daughtery was head of Bexhill CID until 1987 when he was suspended from duty pending an investigation into the unit's crime statistics.

He retired from Sussex Police on health grounds and later became co-owner of Traffers bar in Egerton Road.