A MAN banned from driving was “very drunk” when he was stopped by police on his way to buy more alcohol.

Ex-civil servant Danish Iftikhar, 34, nearly crashed a Kia 4x4 following a chase in Newport, prosecutor Abigail Jackson said.

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The defendant’s barrister Scott Bowen told Cardiff Crown Court that his client is an alcoholic who was “drinking himself to death”.

Iftikhar narrowly avoided going to prison and was banned in 2019 for dangerous driving for crashing into a taxi in Newport after drinking heavily at a Christmas party.

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He was not so fortunate this time however as he was jailed for failing to provide a specimen, driving whilst disqualified and breaching the suspended sentence he received for colliding with the cab.

The defendant, of Devon Place, Newport, admitted the offences which took place on September 28, 2020.

Miss Jackson said police received a tip-off that Iftikhar was suspected of drink driving and he was spotted at Clarence Place.

The prosecutor told the court: “The defendant drove off at high speed along Corporation Road after performing a U-turn and almost crashed into a parked car.

“The police said he was intoxicated and unsteady on his feet. He was slurring his words.

“He told them he had drank half a can of Stella and was trying to buy more alcohol.”

Iftikhar was taken to a police station and failed to provide a sample of breath on a breathalyser machine following eight attempts.

The prosecution said this failure was “deliberate”.

Mr Bowen, mitigating, said: “The defendant is alcohol dependent. He was in denial but he’s now come to realise he is drinking himself to death.”

He told how Iftikhar, who used to work for the Department of Work and Pensions and is now separated from his wife, was working with the Gwent Drug and Alcohol Service.

Mr Bowen added his client was also seeing a specialist psychiatrist to overcome his addiction and was capable of being rehabilitated.

Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke told the defendant: “You were obviously very drunk and nearly crashed your car.”

She jailed him for 10 months and banned him from driving for three years and five months.