Arsenal star Chuba Akpom sparked kidnap fears after crashing £60,000 Range Rover while boozed up on vodka cranberry juice
The striker has been banned from driving after he lost control of the car and mounted a grass verge before smashing into a fence in Barnet, North London
ARSENAL striker Chuba Akpom was yesterday banned from driving – after leaving a trail of wreckage when he crashed his £60k Range Rover while boozed up on vodka cranberry juices.
The star, 22, was behind the wheel at 4.50am in the morning on December 17 near his home in Barnet, North London, when he lost control.
Akpom – believed to be on £780,000 a year – mounted a grass verge near a petrol garage, smashing roadside furniture, before knocking down a large fence.
Cops had clocked him and walked through the debris littering the road to order him to make him take a breath test, which he failed.
The footballer – who has been on loan to current premiership contenders Brighton – was then taken to Colindale police station where he was later charged.
In a bizarre twist, it sparked a kidnap alert with Akpom’s dad, who found the abandoned car the next day and wrongly feared his son had been snatched for ransom until he arrived home by taxi.
Today, the footballer was hauled to Willesden Magistrates Court where he admitted driving the black 3-litre diesel automatic with 72 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
Prosecutor Zahid Hussain told the court Akpom, who signed his first pro contract with the Gunners the day after his seventeenth birthday, was caught near his home.
He added: “His driving was erratic and he was observed by an off-duty police officer. He was parallel to a Shell petrol station and lost control, mounting the grass verge.
“He crashed into roadside furniture then drove back towards the road and into a heavy-duty fencing, knocking it down and out of the ground.
“He caused extensive damage to his Range Rover and left considerable debris strewn around the road.”
Akpom has made ten first-team appearances for Arsenal and had loan spells with Brentford; Coventry City; Nottingham Forest; Hull City and Brighton & Hove Albion.
His lawyer Aki Achillea told the court Akpom’s father feared the worst when he saw the damaged vehicle near the family home.
He said: “His father woke up later and found the crashed car outside the gate with no driver and for a moment he was seriously concerned about what had happened to his son.
“He was about to ring hospitals and the police, fearing his son, being a high-profile footballer, had been abducted so this has affected the family as well.
“He has let himself down and made a dreadful mistake for a boy that has always been so disciplined."
The lawyer said Akpom had "succumbed to temptation" while out with pals in the West End. He had been drinking just cranberry juice when the party moved on to a club in Watford.
But the striker "stupidly agreed" to put vodka in his glass at the 21st birthday party and had two glasses with the cranberry juice to "disguise the taste".
Mr Achillea added: "For someone who does not drink alcohol it does have an effect.
“He clearly should have taken a taxi home, but it is not anything he considered because he has not done this before."
The lawyer pleaded with the court not to take his licence away as there have been "discussions" with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger about loaning him out.
He added: "He will have to ensure there is someone who can drive him around and his movements will be curtailed by that burden.
“It will have an onerous effect on him, considering the risk to his safety and well-being.”
The court heard Akpom has been with Arsenal since he was seven years-old .
His lawyer added: “The dream of most young children is to grow up and become a professional footballer.
“Very few achieve that dream and even less to the extent that they become part of a Premier League football squad as this defendant is.
“In the days of billion pound deals, where a football club can recruit footballers from all over the world it is a fact this defendant is part of the first team squad at Arsenal.
“This defendant goes to work with international footballers as he makes his way to joining these players.
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“He has made enormous sacrifices, as has his family, and his father sits in court today. There were considerable burdens for the family to get their young protege to matches.
“Football has dominated his entire life and with those great rewards he realises there comes responsibility.”
Akpom was fined £9,350, with £85 costs and disqualified from driving for 17 months.