Ex-Everton and Arsenal star Francis Jeffers banned from driving for 17 months after refusing police breath test
EX-EVERTON and Arsenal striker Francis Jeffers has been banned for driving for 17 months after refusing a police breath test. He was also fined £500 after being spotted behind the wheel of his Ford Fiesta driving erratically in Liverpool on May 30. The 39-year-old was capped once by England and also played for eight other […]
EX-EVERTON and Arsenal striker Francis Jeffers has been banned for driving for 17 months after refusing a police breath test.
He was also fined £500 after being spotted behind the wheel of his Ford Fiesta driving erratically in Liverpool on May 30.
The 39-year-old was capped once by England and also played for eight other clubs.
The back wheel of his car caught the pavement as he turned a corner and the vehicle was veering into other lanes, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement.
After he came to a stop on Booker Avenue, Jeffers, currently a coach at Everton FC, was approached by officers and asked if he had been drinking.
Jeffers said he had drunk just two bottles of lager but refused to take a roadside breath test.
He went with officers to St Anne’s police station where he again refused to give a sample – despite several requests from the police.
Jeffers pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to provide a specimen for analysis when he appeared at Sefton Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
He was disqualified from driving for 17 months, fined £500 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £50 and costs of £85.
‘NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW’
Associate prosecutor Elle Battle-Kennedy, of Crown Prosecution Service Mersey Cheshire, said: “Jeffers was asked several times to provide a sample of his breath for analysis.
“He had been spotted driving erratically and his refusal to provide the sample would lead to the assumption that he had something to hide.
“Driving when you’ve been drinking is dangerous and reckless. No-one is above the law.
“Jeffers might be well known to Everton fans and other football supporters but his reputation has been damaged by his behaviour on that night and he has only himself to blame.”
Jeffers was convicted last October of sending menacing messages online to his ex-wife.
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He was fined and given a community sentence and a 12-month restraining order, banning him from contacting his victim.
An Everton starlet in the late 90s, Jeffers, from Liverpool, was signed by Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal for £8 million in 2001 but his career failed to take off and he was loaned back to Goodison Park.
Jeffers went on to play for a succession of clubs including Rangers, Charlton, Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn before ending his playing career at Accrington.
