A YORK man has been jailed after notching up his EIGHTH conviction in less than ten years for driving while disqualified.

Serial offender Stuart Bruce Montgomery, 27, was sent to prison for five months by city magistrates yesterday.

His wife issued him with an ultimatum - stop breaking the law or the marriage is over.

The Acomb resident's latest court appearance came after police stopped him in Coppergate, York, on November 26, last year.

Officers thought there was something wrong with Montgomery's tax disc, but when they took him into custody they found he was banned from the road.

The court was told that the defendant did not realise he was still disqualified.

Prosecutor Martin Butterworth revealed this was Montgomery's eighth court appearance since the mid-1990s for driving while banned.

In 2002, he was made the subject of a community punishment order and banned from driving for two years after an accident which resulted in a cyclist suffering a broken leg - despite being banned from driving until 2004 the year before the incident.

Mark Thompson, mitigating, said his client knew he faced jail over his "unenviable" record.

Mr Thompson said Montgomery and his wife - who have a five-year-old son - moved to York to escape problems back home in Scotland.

But the court heard that in 2002, shortly after arriving in York, Montgomery was up before the Bench.

Mr Thompson said the defendant breached a community punishment order imposed that day when he left his wife for a short spell and moved back to Scotland.

Montgomery's wife has told her husband that she was sick of being left holding the baby when he went to jail and he would have to stop leaving her alone, or their relationship would not have a future.

Mr Thompson said: "He knows this has to stop. It can't carry on."

Magistrates, jailing Montgomery, described his offences as "extremely serious". They said there did not seem to be anything to stop him jumping behind the wheel.

The defendant's driving ban was extended for a further two years.

At an earlier hearing, Montgomery, of Bramham Avenue, Chapelfields, Acomb, admitted driving while disqualified, without insurance and without a test certificate. He also admitted breach of a community punishment order.

Updated: 10:32 Thursday, January 29, 2004