Man pleads guilty to drink driving and scrap metal theft charges

A man from Newtowncunningham in County Donegal has appeared at Derry Magistrate’s Court charged with driving with excess alcohol and stealing a quantity of scrap metal in the early hours of this morning (Friday)
Michael Houston (33) of 1, Glacken Flats, Newtowncunningham admitted both charges.
The court was told that police received a call at 3.15 a.m. on October 14 of a white van being driven suspiciously in the Chapel Road area of Derry.
When they arrived they saw the van truning in to a street and stopped it. The driver was found to be 15 mgs over the legal limit. A quantity of scrap metal was found in the van as well.
At interview Houston said that the scrap metal belonged to his father but when police contacted the father he said he knew nothing about it. Defence solicitor Mr. Seamus Quigley said that his client had had a drink to muster up Dutch courage before meeting a woman he had struck up a relationship with and when he was stopped he was looking for her house.
He said that the scrap metal was stuff he had picked up and said that it was unclear as to where it had come from. Houston was sentenced to two months in prison suspended for 12 months and disqualified from driving for 12 months.