Ex-Liverpool player Dean Saunders to appeal against jail sentence

Ex-Liverpool striker Dean Saunders is due in court to appeal against a jail sentence over a suspected drink-drive stop by police.

Saunders, 55, said he had only drunk one pint when he was stopped by police for “atrocious” driving in Chester city centre on May 10.

Officers who arrested him told the ex-Wales international: “You can’t even stand up.”

Saunders, who also played for Aston Villa and Derby County but now works as a pundit, including for talkSport, refused to give a breath specimen at the roadside and continued his “obstructive and evasive” behaviour at the police station.

The father-of-three denied any offence but was jailed for 10 weeks on August 28, after admitting at Chester Magistrates’ Court to failing to comply with a roadside breath test and failing to provide a breath specimen.

His lawyers secured his release a day later in a private hearing at Chester Crown Court.

Saunders, of Whitegate, a village in Cheshire, has been on bail since August 29 until his appeal at Chester Crown Court.

He was also banned from driving for 30 months and ordered to pay court costs of £620.

The Crown Prosecution Service released footage of Saunders being stopped in his Audi A8 and his subsequent arrest and refusal to give a sample at the police station.

Saunders is a Welsh football manager who played as a striker from 1982 until 2001.

He played for Liverpool from 1991 until 1992, before moving on to Aston Villa.