Four-time British champion jockey Oisin Murphy was fined £70,000 and banned from driving for 20 months after pleading guilty to drink-driving at Reading Magistrates’ Court on Thursday. The 29-year-old admitted being almost twice the legal alcohol limit when he crashed a grey Mercedes A-Class into a tree in Hermitage, Berkshire, at about 12:05 a.m. on 27 April. A subsequent breath test recorded 66 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, compared with the U.K. limit of 35 mg. A charge of failing to cooperate with an initial roadside test was withdrawn. Neither Murphy nor his female passenger suffered life-threatening injuries, but District Judge Sam Goozee said the jockey was “lucky” to avoid causing serious harm to the public. The size of the penalty was based on Murphy’s estimated annual earnings of about £250,000, the court heard.