Phone-hack detective banned from driving

Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective at the centre of the News of the World phone hacking allegations, was back in court yesterday charged with drinking and driving, for which he was fined £1,000 and banned for a year.

Mulcaire was spotted by police in Cheam High Street, in south London, on 25 January, looking "unsteady" on his feet. Police followed him after he got into his car and arrested him close to his home in Sutton, Surrey. When breathalysed he gave a reading of 54mg in 100ml of breath, about one and a half times the drink drive limit.

Mulcaire apologised for the offence and told Sutton magistrates: "I apologise for my actions and this lapse. On the night in question I was responding to an urgent call from my daughter."