A driver has been jailed after refusing to submit to a breathalyser examination and violating a judicial order.

Marcin Depka, who is 42 and whose address is listed as Partridge Way in the Duffryn area of Newport, faced prosecution for three crimes: declining to give a specimen for analysis, being behind the wheel despite having had his licence taken away, and operating a motor vehicle without appropriate cover.

The defendant was convicted without being in attendance after he failed to appear at the local magistrates’ court hearing, despite having previously entered pleas of not guilty.

District Judge Sophie Toms mandated his immediate custody and handed down a prison term of 38 weeks.

Depka will lose his licence to drive for a duration of two years and four months.

He has been ordered to pay £650 in legal costs.

Jessica Taylor-Goddard, acting as the crown prosecutor, stated that the offences occurred on Duffryn Drive in Newport on 23 November the year before.