A NEW Darwen dad who got behind the wheel twice while banned will be locked up the day the baby was supposed to be Christened, a court heard.

Marc Bamping, 26, who had also been subject to a suspended jail term when he struck, drove to work.

He was on bail after being caught the first time, then did it again less than a fortnight later, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Last July, the defendant had been given 12 months behind bars, suspended for two years, for raiding a school and stealing computer equipment.

Bamping was sent to prison for a total of 18 months and banned from driving for a year.

The defendant, of Hollins Grove Street, Darwen, had admitted two counts of driving while disqualified and without insurance and had been committed for sentence by Blackburn magistrates.

Tim Ashmole, defending, said: “His difficulties were financial. He sought to resolve them, but did it in a reckless and unlawful way.”