Heavy court punishment for Lingard

By Sean Whetstone

This week former Hammer Jesse Lingard was up in court for a drink driving offence, has apologised for ‘putting the lives of others at risk’ after he admitted drink-driving in his £200,000 Lamborghini. The former Hammer was fined £57,000 – for being more than twice over the legal limit.

Lingard’s lawyer Frank Rogers said that his client would pay a ‘heavy price’ in the future as his career and family – to whom he has large financial commitments – would be impacted.

He added that Lingard was training with West Ham, who were considering offering him a contract, and other offers were ‘in the pipeline’.

When pressed by district judge Joanne Hirst how much Lingard currently earned, Mr Rogers told the court it was £249,000 a month, or £57,000 a week.

The judge told Lingard the case had aggravating features, including him being twice over the limit, saying: ‘One wonders who would have cared for your entire family had you killed yourself or someone else.’

The judge told him that he would be punished in the same way as anyone else before the court – a week’s earnings. She also added a £2,000 victim surcharge, meaning Lingard must £59,000 in total, and banned him from driving for 18-months, to run concurrently with an existing six-month ban for speeding.

Lingard said in a statement: “I want to acknowledge my mistake and publicly apologise for my unacceptable actions. I completely understand and accept the consequences of my mistake by putting the lives of others at risk.

“I am sorry to all my fans anyone who has followed and supported me throughout my career. I accept the sentence of the court and the fine.”

It is the second time Lingard will appear before magistrates in less than two months.

He was previously banned from driving after he failed to name the driver when his car was caught speeding.

The midfielder’s Range Rover was flashed by a speed camera on the A56 in Trafford last year.

He then failed to give police the the name of the driver when he received a speeding notice at his home.

He pleaded guilty to failing to provide information about who was driving his vehicle at Manchester Magistrates’ Court.

The star was fined £900 with a further £560 in costs and banned from the roads for six months.

This afternoon David Moyes commented on Jesse Lingard again at a pre-match press conference “Yea I think Jesse is starting to get himself back, he’s had the best part of a month now like pre-season work and is involved in a lot of the football. So he’s doing well but we’ve got no real update to give you from what I’ve said before. “But we’re happy to try and get Jesse in the right condition.”

This week reports have linked Lingard to move to Everton as a free agent but in a separate twist today he published a photo of himself on a Emirates plane headed to Dubai with the club in the dark of his intentions.