A STOURPORT man convicted of drink-driving for a fifth time got a six-month jail sentence reduced by a month after an appeal at Worcester Crown Court.

Judge Anthony King said while Patrick Cleavely had deliberately flouted the law he had not been given credit by Kidderminster magistrates for his early guilty plea.

Cleavely, of Layamon Walk, had appealed against the sentence imposed last month for driving with excess alcohol, driving while disqualified and without insurance. His three-year driving ban was confirmed.

The 50-year-old was twice the breath-alcohol limit when he was stopped by police on Kidderminster's ring road on July 29 last year, said Mr Malcolm Parkes, for the Crown.

His extensive record began in 1987 and there were numerous convictions for drink-driving and driving while banned.

But Richard Bond, for Cleavely, said his life had changed in the past year. The former "hard man" was now a house-husband looking after his 16-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter.

His health had been affected by two incidents. He had been kicked in the face by a horse and had badly broken his arm when falling down in bad weather.

Cleavely had taken a chance at the wheel after being told that his brother had cancer. But the accidents meant he was no longer physically capable of driving.