Drink-drive Hibs star is fined £420

HIBS player Joe Newell has appeared in court to admit a drink-driving charge – only hours before he played for the Edinburgh club against Rangers last night.

Newell, 28, appearing under his full name of Joseph Newell, was more than three times the legal drink-drive limit when police stopped him.

Fiscal depute Drew Long told Edinburgh Sheriff Court that officers spotted Newell driving ‘particularly slowly’ near his home in Wallyford, East Lothian, at around 12.35am on October 31 this year.

The court heard Newell undertook two breath tests and the lower reading of 67mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath was given. The legal limit is 22mg.

Solicitor Peter Malone, defending, said his client had a previously unblemished driving record.

Newell ‘regrets getting into the car after consuming alcohol’ and that he ‘fully appreciates the seriousness of the matter’.

Sheriff Alistair Noble banned the midfielder from driving for 12 months and fined him £420.