Michael banned from driving for two years

Singer George Michael was sentenced to 100 hours community service today for driving while unfit.

The star was found slumped at the wheel of his Mercedes car at a road junction in north London in the early hours of October 1 last year.

The 43-year-old previously admitted the offence, claiming he was guilty due to tiredness and prescribed drugs.

Today he was sentenced to 100 hours community service, to be carried out over the next 12 months, and was disqualified from driving for two years at Brent Magistrates’ Court in north London.

Michael, who was wearing a charcoal grey suit and black T-shirt, told sentencing Judge Katherine Marshall he was “ashamed” of the danger he had put other people in by his actions.

Michael told reporters outside court: “I am glad to put this behind me and now I’m off to do the biggest show of my life.”

The court heard the star had a therapeutic quantity of an antidepressant in his system as well as the illegal Class C drug GHB and cannabis when he was found in his car.

But while the prosecution originally claimed he was unfit due to the cannabis he admitted smoking, that contention was later dropped.

Michael always denied being unfit to drive due to cannabis and said he had taken prescription drugs including a sleeping pill and was extremely tired.

Sentencing, the judge gave Michael full credit for his guilty plea for driving while unfit, without which she said the prosecution might not have had a case against him after abandoning the cannabis accusation.

The defence had said there were “legitimate, lawful explanations for why Class C drug GHB could have been detected in a sample of his blood.

The judge said she was sentencing him on the basis that he was unfit to drive and not on the possible reasons for his condition.

She told the singer the risk he had posed to other road users “was high” and as she banned him from driving for two years she told him: “Your driving record is not good.”

The court heard his licence has six points on it and he had accrued five fixed-penalty fines over the past seven years.

Outside the court, Michael told dozens of waiting reporters and fans: “I’ve been sentenced on the basis of unfit driving through tiredness and prescription medications which I fully accept responsibility for.

“I’m glad to put this behind me and now I’m off to do the biggest show of my life.”

The sentence means Michael can go ahead with two sell-out concerts at the new Wembley Stadium this weekend.