A FORMER European welterweight boxing champion was banned from driving for a year yesterday after twice refusing to take a breath test when detained by police.
Gary Jacobs, 38, of Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, was stopped on April 14 after leaving the Babaza nightclub in the city at about 4am.
CCTV cameras showed him then going into his Audi car and police were told, amid suspicions that he might be drunk. He was soon stopped, and officers noticed a smell of alcohol.
Bobby McCormack, defending, told Glasgow Sheriff Court: ''Mr Jacobs is a former champion boxer who won several titles in his time. During his career, he once sold out Madison Square Gardens in New York for a world title fight.
''He is now appearing in court for an incident that has caused embarrassment to him and his family. He simply
panicked.''
Sheriff Deirdre MacNeill, QC, said: ''Unfortunately, I am unfamiliar with the boxing scene and, as such, Mr Jacobs will be treated the same as anyone else.''
Jacobs, who admitted the offence last month, was banned for 12 months and also fined (pounds) 250. He was previously banned for two years in 1992.
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