BLACKBURN Rovers star Dwight Yorke has launched a High Court appeal after claiming he was wrongly convicted of speeding in his Porsche sports car.

Mr Justice Owen was due to give his ruling yesterday morning on Mr Yorke's case and that of another Porsche driver, but said he needed to hear further argument on the legal issues involved.

The cases are now due to return to London's High Court for lawyers to put forward their arguments in about two weeks' time.

Mr Yorke is at the centre of a battle over a legal loophole that could affect thousands of errant motorists.

The striker, who joined Rovers from Manchester United last year, is appealing against an October 2002 speeding conviction after he was allegedly clocked travelling at 61mph in his Porsche sports car in a 40mph zone.

The Trinidad and Tobago international hadn't fully completed or signed a notice sent to him under the Road Traffic Act 1988 and argues it couldn't therefore be used as evidence to show he admitted driving the Porsche on Princess Road, Withington, Manchester on May 15, 2001.

At Manchester City Magistrate's Court, and later at Manchester Crown Court, the incomplete notice was ruled admissible, and Mr Yorke was convicted, fined and had penalty points put on his notice.

The player's case was heard with that of another Porsche driver, Michael Mawdesley, of Stump Lane, Chorley, who was allegedly clocked doing 102mph on the M56.

He too was fined and handed penalty points for the April 2002 offence, even though he too hadn't signed the notice sent to him.

Mr Mawdesley's barrister, Mark Laprell, told the judge in May that appeals on the same legal point have spread like "a virus" throughout the country in the last few years.

The outcome of this appeal, he added, could affect thousands of motorists captured speeding by cameras, as in the Manchester and Cheshire areas alone more than 100,000 notices are sent out every year.