A DANGEROUS driver failed in his bid to have his licence returned early – as it emerged he wasn’t eligible.

Richard Curley was jailed for a total of 52 months in 2019 for robbing a man outside the Bodleian Library and driving a car dangerously in West Sussex three years earlier.

As part of his sentence he was banned from driving for more than five years and ordered to pass an extended retest.

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The 39-year-old, formerly of no fixed address, asked in June for a judge at Oxford Crown Court, where he was originally sentenced, to consider lifting that disqualification early.

But on Tuesday morning Judge Ian Pringle QC said the law did not allow him to – even if he had wanted to relax the ban.

As the defendant was convicted of dangerous driving, the rules required that he pass a mandatory extended retest before he was allowed to drive again.

That, in turn, meant he was ineligible for the early return of his licence, the judge said after hearing submissions on the law from prosecutor Cathy Olliver.

Judge Pringle said: “Instead of writing to him to say we’ll give him another [court hearing] date, we’ll write to him to say he’s not entitled to apply by virtue of the Road Traffic Offenders Act because of the need for him to apply for a mandatory extended retest.”

The judge added: “His driving record is so utterly shocking that he would have had an uphill struggle to convince me of the merits [of his application to lift the ban early] in any event.”

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Curley was not present in court, saying he had not received a letter sent last week informing him of the date of Tuesday’s hearing.

In 2019, Curley was one of three men sentenced in connection with a vicious robbery outside the Bodleian Library.

At around 2am on September 29, the victim was sat on the steps of the historic Clarendon Building eating a takeaway when he was approached by Curley and two other men.

He was followed as he walked up the steps of the Grade I listed Broad Street landmark before he was set upon by two of the three men.

Bystanders heard the victim’s ‘screams’ as he was put in a headlock. The man’s mobile phone was stolen in the assault and, later, discarded in a bush.

Curley was also sentenced for driving dangerously in St Leonards-on-Sea, West Sussex. The 2016 incident saw him hit 70mph on 30mph-limit roads before he crashed the car.  

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward