A DRINK-driver who had enough alcohol in his system to kill most people today spoke of his relief at escaping the prison sentence he dreaded.

David John Mackenzie, who insists he is not an alcoholic, says all he wants to do now is put his life back together again.

Mackenzie, 41, of School Lane, Fulford, was almost six times over the limit when police tested him outside his home last month. His breath/alcohol reading was 208 - the legal limit is 35.

A police spokesman said at the time of Mackenzie's arrest he "should really be dead".

But Mackenzie escaped jail yesterday after magistrates in York sentenced him to 100 hours of community service and put him on a year's probation instead. He was also banned from driving for four years and ordered to pay £50 costs.

Speaking exclusively to the Evening Press afterwards, Mackenzie, a former assistant bank manager, said he had been told while on remand in the hospital wing of the Wolds prison things would be hard for him if he was sent down.

He said: "I was the only one there without a tattoo and with some sort of education. I did not have a hard time in the hospital wing, but I was led to believe I would do. I was frightened at the thought of going back."

The court heard how Mackenzie, a bachelor who now lives with his parents in York, was caught returning home after a morning trip to the dentist in Heworth.

David Garnett, prosecuting, said officers who arrived at his home about 15 minutes later saw his car being first driven into the back wall of the garage, then reversed into the side of it.

Mackenzie, who has not held a full-time job since taking voluntary redundancy from the London High Street bank where he worked in 1994, said he drank to control trembling in his hands he had suffered since the age of 16, and to help him sleep.

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