A DRINK-DRIVER who crashed his car into pub has been jailed for four months and banned from driving..

Darrell Lambert, 27, drove his BMW 318 into the King’s Arms pub, in Wignall Street, Lawford, wrecking the car and badly damaging the pub.

He ran off, but was arrested a soon afterwards at Manningtree railway station.

Lambert admitted driving while disqualified, drink-driving, failing to stop at the scene of an accident, failing to report the accident, careless driving and driving without insurance.

Police described Lambert as “a menace”, while his own solicitor described him as “a deeply unattractive individual”.

Simon Bravery, prosecuting, said the crash had caused tens of thousands of pounds of damage to the pub, leaving the landlord devastated.

Lambert’s passenger, a friend, who was only named as Mr Smith in court, suffered broken bones in the accident, at 5am on June 12 last year.

Lambert’s lawyer Sue Threadkell, said: “He has remorse for the owners of the property and for Mr Smith.”

After the hearing, Insp Scott Egerton, said: “Lambert is a menace to the public.

“He had already been banned from driving and yet he drove again, and while drunk on this occasion.

“This crash led to his passenger sustaining some serious injuries and caused extensive damage to the pub.”

Lambert, of Hawke Road, Ipswich, originally denied the offences but changed his pleas when he appeared via video link before Colchester magistrates yesterday.

The court heard Lambert had initially denied being the driver of the BMW.

This meant extensive police forensic work had to be done to place him in the driver’s seat.

As well as being jailed, Lambert was, banned from driving for five years and fined £300.

The court was told he was already serving a four-month prison sentence for another, undisclosed offence.

The sentence for the driving offences will begin when the other sentence has been served.