A MAN got behind the wheel more than 50 times while banned, a court heard.

Burnley Crown Court heard new dad Terence Mulleny, 38, who drove three times while banned in nine months, also failed to turn up at court and flouted a community rehabilitation order

Mulleny had appealed against a six-month prison sentence imposed by magistrates after clocking up his 53rd driving while banned offence.

Judge Raymond Bennett, sitting with two justices, said he had never heard of anyone with as many convictions for disqualified driving before. He threw out Mulleny's appeal.

The appellant, of Norfolk Avenue, Padiham, had earlier been convicted of three charges of driving while disqualified and no insurance, failing to surrender and breaching the two year rehabilition order. He must now serve the six months behind bars.

Stuart Duke, prosecuting, told the court Mulleny was caught driving in April 2002 and twice in December the same year. He had been disqualified in 1996 until he passed an extended re-test and had never taken the test.

David Traynor, for Mulleny, handed the bench a letter from Mulleny's partner's GP in which he reported his difficult personal circumstances. The doctor said the girlfriend, who had a new baby, was depressed and had become dependent on her partner for day-to-day life.