A 39-year-old Coleford man who put the lives of sixteen other road users at risk when he drove dangerously has received a suspended jail sentence at Cheltenham Magistrates Court.

Benjamin Oliver, of Tufthorn Avenue, pleaded guilty to driving an Audi A3 dangerously on Arthur Cooper Way and Bream Road, Coleford, on April 14, 2021.

He also admitted driving a Ford Transit in Goodrich, near Ross on Wye, with excess Ketamine in his blood and without a valid licence or test certificate, on December 23, 2021.

He pleaded guilty to further offences of assaulting a woman by beating on August 12, 2022, and a breach of bail by failing to attend court on October 10, 2022.

The magistrates sentenced him to 26 weeks prison suspended for 18 months for the dangerous driving offence. They said the reason for a custodial sentence was that he had put the lives of sixteen other road users at risk.

The court also imposed a six months drug rehabilitation requirement and ordered Oliver to pay costs and a surcharge totalling £150. He was disqualified from driving for three years.

For the Ketamine driving offence, the magistrates imposed a 4-week concurrent suspended jail term, saying they had heard that he was "out of his head on drugs, and a member of public had to intervene to stop him driving any further.'

And for the assault offence Oliver was conditionally discharged for six months.