An international footballer who crashed his car into parked vehicles and mounted a pavement has received a driving ban.
The collisions happened after Jack Grealish – who was also caught speeding in a separate incident while awaiting court – had disobeyed lockdown rules to meet friends in Dickens Heath, Solihull, in March.
Police recovered CCTV which showed the Aston Villa and England player reversing his Range Rover Sport into a Citroen Dispatch van and then driving a short distance away.
He’s then seen reversing into a Mercedes AMG, before pulling away and dangerously mounting the pavement.
Grealish was persuaded by witnesses to exchange details, and had left the scene when officers arrived.
One witness told us he had been unsteady on his feet, smelled of alcohol and his speech was slurred.
Having to rely on the hard evidence available, officers were able to charge him with driving without due care and attention.
However, while waiting to appear in court, an unmarked police car spotted him travelling at more than 90mph on the M42 on 18 October.
He was observed recklessly tailgating before being stopped and later charged with a further offence of driving without due care and attention.
Grealish – who already has six points on his driving licence from a previous speeding matter – pleaded guilty to the offences at Birmingham Magistrates Court.
The 25-year-old, from Barnt Green, Worcestershire, was today (15 December) banned from the road for nine months and fined £82,499, and ordered to pay costs.
Charges that he left the scene of the March incident and then failed to report it were dropped, as he eventually did give details at the scene.
Tanya Johnson, head of our police-led prosecutions team which brought forward the case, said: “These are appalling standards of driving which could have put lives at risk.
“He should not even have been in Solihull at the time of the collisions. We were in the first lockdown and millions of other people were sacrificing their freedom to stop the spread of coronavirus.
“He had gone when officers arrived and as ever we built a case on the hard evidence we had available. He was charged but it clearly didn’t act as a warning as he was again caught speeding – which is one of the biggest factors in serious and fatal collisions on the roads.
“It’s shocking a role model to so many has repeatedly behaved in an illegal and reckless manner.”