FORMER Colchester schoolboy Darren Day has been banned from driving for five years and fined £1,250 for his second drink-driving offence in two years.

Day, 41, previously admitted driving while over the legal alcohol limit and failing to stop after an accident.

The stage and screen star, who used to attend Sir Charles Lucas School, was found to have 58mgs of alcohol on his breath after the incident, in Edinburgh, on December 18 last year. The legal limit is 35mgs.

Day, who moved from Colchester to Cudworth, South Yorkshire, was in the Scottish capital starring in the hit Queen musical, We Will Rock You.

He had only recently returned to the road after being disqualified for 18 months for drink-driving, in Cardiff, in 2008.

Day was sentenced at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, following a short trial in which he was convicted of possessing an offensive weapon, a martial arts stick called a kubotan. He was admonished on that charge, which means he will not receive a fine or prison sentence.

He denied the charge and said he did not realise the kubotan, which he used as a keyring, was a weapon.

He said he had been given the 5ins metal stick by a friend 14 years ago because he kept losing his keys.

Day, whose mother, Anne Thorpe, lives in Stanway, spoke outside the court after being sentenced.

He said: “I’m very relieved it’s over. I am deeply sorry and ashamed of what’s happened, especially for my family. I’m very keen to move on with my life and leave it behind me.”

Day originally faced six charges after the accident. He admitted failing to stop at the scene of the accident and being over the drink-drive limit.

His pleas of not guilty to driving without due care and attention, failing to report the accident and failing to co-operate with a preliminary breath test, were accepted by prosecutors.

Sheriff William Holligan disqualified Day from driving for five years and fined him £900 in relation to the drink-driving offence.

He was fined £350 for failing to stop at the scene.