A BANNED driver from Bromyard who has been disqualified 16 times has been caught behind the wheel yet again after repeatedly defying court orders.

The judge said he had been left with no choice but to jail Naheed Plumridge (pictured right) who had already been convicted of driving while disqualified when he appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Friday to be sentenced.

The 42-year-old of Firs Lane was convicted at Hereford Magistrates Court of driving while disqualified and driving without insurance on May 18.

This placed him in breach of a suspended prison sentence imposed by Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court for a drugs offence.

The prison sentence was one of eight months suspended for 18 months with a concurrent sentence of one month for failing to surrender to custody.

Michael Conry, prosecuting, said police had spotted Plumridge parked in ‘an unusual place’ on August 14, 2014. Officers investigated and found him in possession of two carrier bags of cannabis weighing just under half a kilogramme. They also found £640 in cash. He was convicted of possession of cannabis with intent to supply.

Officers on mobile patrol spotted Plumridge in a Citroen Picasso in Leominster on May 4 this year.

Plumridge had 30 convictions for 140 offences, including 16 previous convictions for driving while disqualified.

Lee Egan, defending, urged the judge not to activate the prison sentence because driving while disqualified was a dissimilar matter to the drugs offence for which the suspended sentence was originally imposed.

But Judge Nicholas Cole sentenced him to six months immediate custody.

“You were driving at a time when you knew you should not. You were, in your own words, stupid to do so.

“You had only a few weeks left before you could apply for your licence. I take the view there is no realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”

He said in the event of an accident other motorists would not be able to claim from Plumridge’s insurance and said he had already been banned from driving 16 times.