A taxi driver has become the first person to be sentenced by an English court in a call to his mobile phone.

Aftab Ahmed had been due to appear before Judge Caroline Ludlow for sentencing at Ipswich Crown Court but was delayed on the way there when the road was closed because of a fatal accident near Stowmarket.

Ahmed, 44, who was a passenger in a friend's car, called the court to explain his predicament. The judge gave him the choice of either being dealt with over the phone or having the hearing adjourned.

He decided to take his punishment then and there and was sentenced to 140 hours community service and ordered to pay £750 costs. It was the first time anyone had been sentenced over the telephone in any of the courts in England and Wales.

telegraph.co.uk