A drunken driver who performed a handbrake turn as he fled police, barricaded himself in his home and was found lying in bed fully clothed.

Darren Thompson, of Rosscah View, Kesh, denied that his driving was dangerous but pleaded guilty at Fermanagh Court to the lesser offence of careless driving.

The 25-year-old former vehicle recovery driver also admitted driving with excess alcohol.

He was fined £400 and banned from driving for 12 months.

A prosecutor told Fermanagh Court that at 2.55am on Sunday, December 20, last year, police responded to a complaint of vehicles causing annoyance in a car park at the Brownhill Link in Irvinestown. Officers spoke to a number of people. They then heard Thompson, who was parked a short distance away, revving the engine of his car and saw the vehicle shudder forward with its wheels spinning in the wet conditions. The police called to him to stop but he accelerated out of the car park, performing a handbrake turn with the rear of his vehicle going from side to side. The police went to his home and saw him running in to the house. He locked the door and barricaded himself inside. The officers knocked on the door and when they gained entry found him lying in bed, fully clothed. He was drunk and his speech was slurred. A sample of his breath produced an alcohol reading of 69 - twice the legal limit of 35.

Defence barrister Katie Rose Gallagher submitted that there was no suggestion of any other traffic or pedestrians being on the road or Thompson’s vehicle colliding, or nearly colliding with any other vehicle. More over there was no suggestion of him endangering any other road user or pedestrian.

She said Thompson had been employed as a driver with Lakeland Recovery but lost his job after he appeared in court on these charges on March 2, and was banned from driving for driving with excess alcohol.

“His licence is imperative to him earning a livelihood,” Miss Gallagher told the court.

She said Thompson is living with his parents and deeply regrets this incident.