A CARLISLE man caught drug-driving twice in the space of a few weeks was spared jail after a judge accepted the country’s prisons are “at breaking point”.

The city’s crown court heard how John Reay, 41, committed the offences while he was already under the threat of a suspended sentenced order for offences that included an affray.

He admitted the drug-driving offences ­— both involving him having used cannabis.

One was committed on April 25 last year and the other on May 10.

Passing sentence on the defendant, of High Meadow, Carlisle, Judge Nicholas Barker told him: “John Reay, you seem to somehow enjoy pushing things to the limit.”

The original offences that led to the suspended sentence were serious, said the judge.

When he left court after getting that sentence, Reay was warned that any new offences would put him at risk of jail.

Imposing a two-month suspended sentence, a £500 fine, and a three-month curfew, the judge said: “I’m conscious that prison services are at breaking point as a result of the coronavirus pandemic; and only those for whom there is absolutely no alternative should go into custody.” The jail term was suspended for a year.