A Sageston man who had been drinking and revelling in a Welsh rugby victory before deciding to get in his vehicle and drive his girlfriend to Pembroke, has been charged with drink-driving.

Forty-six-year-old Dean Christopher Brown, of Bartletts Well Road, pleaded guilty to a charge of driving his Citroen Berlingo with 127 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, exceeding the prescribed limit of alcohol, when he appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Vaughan Pritchard-Jones told magistrates that he incident took place at around 10.40 pm on Friday, March 10, when shop workers at Asda in Pembroke Dock had seen the defendant, who appeared to be drunk, leave the store with a woman and get into his vehicle to drive.

“They immediately called the police to inform them, and officers attended Mr. Brown’s address, shortly after he had arrived back home,” he said.

“He said that he had been watching the Wales v Ireland game and afterwards his girlfriend had wanted to go to Pembroke to feed the dog.

“Mr. Brown told police that he had made a foolish decision.

“The aggravating feature is that he was three-and-a-half times over the limit and still called in at Pembroke Dock to buy some vodka!

“He managed to get home without an accident, which is perhaps surprising due to the level of intoxication,” added Mr. Pritchard-Jones.

Defence solicitor Mr. Mike Kelleher told the court that his client was of previously good character and locally had raised thousands of pounds for charity, but had made a ‘very, very foolish’ decision to drive.

“He’s not the sort of person who would normally do something like this, it was a stupid decision and he was persuaded to do it by his then girlfriend after a few drinks.

“He is very, very disappointed to find himself in this position and rather ashamed of his behaviour,” added Mr. Kelleher, who said that Mr. Brown was currently out of work, but was due to start a position at Tenby’s St Catherine’s Island next month.

Chair of the magistrates bench, Mr. David Simpson told Mr. Brown that it had been an excellent day for the Welsh team, but an ‘unfortunate day’ for him.

“You celebrated the victory and drove, but when you are over three times the limit, you do not get behind the wheel of a car, and it’s very lucky that nobody was injured,” he remarked.

Magistrates gave Mr. Brown a 12-month community order and disqualified him from driving for 30 months.

He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and an £85 victim surcharge.