A DRINK-DRIVER was so far over the legal limit that his breath test result was “off the guidelines” for sentencing.

John Lyon was stopped by police while driving a Vauxhall in Littlehampton Road, Worthing on February 27 this year.

When he did a breath test, the result showed he had 169 microgrammes (mcg) of alcohol per 100 millilitres (ml) of breath in his system.

The legal limit is 35mcg of alcohol per 100ml of breath.

He admitted drink-driving at Worthing Magistrates’ Court on March 15, where he given a three-year driving ban.

Magistrates handed him an 18-week suspended prison sentence.

He was put under a curfew for 18 weeks.

The court noted the breath test was a “very high reading, so high that the breath reading is off the guidelines for sentencing”.

But the sentence was suspended because Lyon had pleaded guilty, and has no previous convictions.

Magistrates said immediate custody would have “had an impact on his wider family and his own vulnerability”.

Instead the 52-year-old will have to remain at his home in Leeward Road, Worthing between 8pm and 5.30am every day.

His curfew will now run until 11.59pm on July 18.

He was also ordered to pay a £115 victim surcharge to fund victim services and £85 court costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.