A TEENAGER caught drink driving on a stolen motorbike has been given an eight-week prison sentence suspended for a year.

Thomas Luke Marshall, 18, was riding without a helmet, didn’t have a licence or insurance and rode straight through a red light shortly after midnight on January 22, York magistrates heard.

Kathryn Reeve, prosecuting, said a member of the public tipped off police that Marshall was riding erratically on Micklegate and they caught up with him on Scarcroft Road.

He smelt of alcohol and there were exposed wires on the motorbike’s ignition. A breath test revealed he was twice the drink drive limit.

Marshall, of Scarcroft Road in York, pleaded guilty to taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent, drink-driving, riding without a helmet, insurance or licence and going through a red light at the junction of Scarcroft Road and Blossom Street.

He was given an eight-week prison sentence, suspended for a year on condition that he observes an eight-week nightly curfew from 8pm to 6am, does 12 months’ supervision and a rehabilitation programme. He was also banned from the roads for 20 months.

His solicitor Kevin Blount said the motorbike had been stolen by other youths who had given Marshall the chance to ride it. Since his arrest, he had had his first taste of an adult prison and didn’t like it. He knew he was at a crossroads in his life and wanted to stay out of jail.