Snooker star gets community service

THE SNOOKER player Jimmy White was yesterday sentenced to 120 hours' community service and banned from driving for three years. He had driven his BMW while almost four times over the legal alcohol limit.

The former world championship finalist showed little reaction as he was sentenced by Richmond magistrates in south-west London, but said after the case: 'I was bang out of order. I thank God I never hurt anybody and never hurt myself.'

White, 31, had been warned at an earlier hearing that magistrates were considering a custodial sentence. The court had been told that the former United Kingdom champion was seen by police near Richmond Green late at night on 28 October last year.

Liz Lockwood, for the prosecution, told the court that White, of Cobham, Surrey, who admitted the excess alcohol charge, said officers on foot patrol saw him driving his dark-coloured car 'erratically'. They radioed colleagues who later found White and another man standing beside the vehicle.

White was arrested and cautioned after refusing three opportunities to provide a breath specimen. A breath test later showed he had 127 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.