A PREMIERSHIP footballer has been found guilty of speeding on a North Yorkshire road after pleading not guilty on a technicality.

Tottenham Hotspur defender Pascal Chimbonda was charged with speeding after a policeman registered him travelling at 91mph on the dual carriageway near Leake Church, on the A19, outside of Thirsk.

Mr Chimbonda was driving a Porsche Cayenne southbound on the A19, which has a 70mph speed limit, when he was stopped on January 11 this year.

Due to him driving under a French driving licence he could not be issued with a fixed penalty ticket and was given with a court summons.

The former Sunderland player did not have to appear at Northallerton Magistrates’ Court and was instead represented by a lawyer who put forward a technical defence on his behalf.

Robert McMaster, for the defence, claimed that the burden of proof on the prosecution to show that Mr Chimbonda had not been fulfilled because of the risk of inaccuracies with the laser gun used to measure speed.

The defence argued that the police officer was unable to verify that the laser gun was set up accurately, and that in having his police radio on in the car while using the laser gun the readings might be affected.

However the magistrates rejected both of these arguments, saying that the policeman was using a certified system for setting up the gun and that not using the police radio fell under guidelines only and was not enough for them to be sure that the reading was inaccurate.

Sentencing on Mr Chimbonda was adjourned for 28 days as he has a conviction for driving without insurance currently under appeal.