Kyle John Christopher Hawthorne, 36, from Killowen Drive, received a 16-month probation order and 60 hours of community service at Magherafelt Magistrates Court.

District Judge Conor Heaney stated the sentence serves as an alternative to custody. He warned Hawthorne that breaching the order would lead to a return to court for possible imprisonment.

Hawthorne pleaded guilty to failing to provide a specimen on March 8 and driving with excess alcohol on March 23.

Police responded to a road traffic accident on the motorway at Randalstown on March 8. They found Hawthorne's van over the carriageway in a bush. Officers arrested him after he identified himself and took him to Antrim, where he refused an evidential specimen.

On March 23 at 7.30pm, police attended a two-vehicle collision at Rainey Street in Magherafelt. A member of the public removed keys from Hawthorne's vehicle after he crashed into a parked car and tried to drive away. He failed a preliminary breath test and later provided an evidential specimen of 73 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit stands at 35 microgrammes.

Defence counsel noted Hawthorne's early guilty plea. He highlighted no collision occurred in the first incident and minimal damage in the second with no injuries.