Homeless man escapes ban after headbutting Northamptonshire Police officer during drink-drive arrest

A homeless man who headbutted a police officer after being arrested for a second time in connection with suspected drink-driving offences has been allowed to keep his licence so he can carry on working to pay for somewhere to sleep.

Magistrates allowed Martin Paul Holden to keep his licence despite adding 20 POINTS for two offences and ordered him to pay £250 compensation for assaulting the female officer.

Court documents showed Holden is homeless and relies on his vehicle to travel all over the country for work, which provides him with accommodation.

Magistrates decided not to disqualify him from driving for going over 12 points since losing his licence would cost him his job and accommodation.

Holden, aged 50, denied being drunk in charge of a vehicle after being found with keys in the ignition of a Volvo S60 parked in a Daventry Starbucks on November 15, 2020.

He was found guilty in his absence at a hearing last May, had ten points added to his licence and was ordered to pay £150 towards Crown Prosecution Service costs.

Tests showed he had 125mg microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.

He was then stopped while driving on January 30 this year after a woman told two officers in Daventry a man had got into a vehicle intoxicated following a row.

Holden headbutted one officer while being arrested and later refused to give a blood sample.

Holden pleaded guilty to assault and failing to provide a specimen at a hearing at Northampton Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (February 15), and was also ordered to seek treatment for alcohol dependency.