An alcoholic has been jailed after driving while more than four times over the limit.

Colchester magistrates said Jack Benet needed to be sent to prison to protect the public.

They gave him a four-month sentence after he admitted two charges of drink-driving.

Benet got into his blue Ford Fiesta car after drinking about 24 units on July 24.

He swerved as he drove down East Road towards West Mersea town centre.

Police pulled in the 60-year-old in Oyster Close and arrested him because they smelled alcohol on his breath.

In a blood test Benet, of Carrington Court, West Mersea, tested positive with 329mgs. The legal limit is 80mgs.

A few weeks later, on August 11, Benet was seen driving the same car along East Road.

He could not steer the car properly and veered on to the wrong side of the road several times.

He was breathalysed by the roadside and gave a reading of 113mcgs. The legal limit is 35mcgs.

Raphael Pigott, mitigating, said Benet suffered from problems with his heart and leg and was too ill to go to prison.

Alison Inman, chairman of the bench, thought Benet's readings were "staggeringly high" and said he was a risk to the public.

As well as the prison sentence, Benet was banned for driving for three years and ordered to retake his driving test.