Blackpool criminal leaves partner with snake collection as he is jailed

A serial driving offender has left his partner with a giant reptilian headache.

Disqualifed driving menace Ian Peckett left Blackpool Magistrates Court to serve two years jail.

But the court heard he and his partner face evicition from their home in Garden Terrace, South Shore, because of rent arrears.

Defence lawyer Martin Hillson said: “He knows what he has done was foolish in the extreme continuing to drive despite being banned and under a suspended sentence for those offences.

“Now they are being evicted and his partner will have to cope home alone with a crippled dog and my client ‘s collection of fourteen snakes including a 22 foot long python.”

Peckett, 37, uemployed admitted two more driving while disqualified offences , obstructing the police by giving his brother’s name and two offences of driving a Ford Focus without insurance .

The prosecution said that the offences were severely aggravated because he had never stopped driving despite current bans and the suspended sentence.

The court heard that police lay in wait for Peckett to be at the wheel knowing he would go and pick his partner up from work.

The prosecution applied for an order to have the car seized which was agreed as it in his partner’s name .

He was banned from the road for two years and jailed for 24 weeks.

Chairman of the Bench: “You showed a blatant disregard for court orders and carried on driving.”