Boxing legend Frank Bruno has been spared a driving ban after he was caught racing his Silver Mercedes at 105pm – 35mph above the speed limit.
The former heavyweight champion, 47, was clocked hurtling along the A11 near Great Wilbraham, Cambridge, at breakneck speeds.
But magistrates decided not to hand the retired boxer a ban as it would stop him from carrying out his charity work with young people.
He told police to ”keep up the good work” when he appreared at Cambridge Magistrates Court on Friday and admitted breaking the 70mph speed limit.
Bruno, 47, was flagged down on the southbound carriageway on the afternoon of June 16 by Cambridgeshire Police Pc Mark Lappin who was using a laser gun to monitor speed.
Bruno was returning from a charity event for 400 special needs children in Thetford, Norfolk, and apologised to officers at the scene.
He said: ”His explanation is that they are doing a good job, and he was doing wrong, and needs to be dealt with by the court.
”Because he had stayed late at a charity event, on the way back he was not conscious enough of his speed and he accepts he was well over the limit when he was stopped by the police.”
Dad-of-four Bruno was diagnosed as bipolar after a breakdown in 2003 and regular visits to a health spa helped to maintain his mental
health.
The retired boxer, who lives alone at a farmhouse in Little Billington near Leighton Buzzard, Beds., was banned from driving for six months last year.
He was caught racing his £100,000 Rolls Royce – registration FRB1 – at speeds of up to 53mph in a 30mph zone in Milton Keynes.
At the time he had nine points on his licence and a few months before had crashed his £150,000 Bentley into a motorway reservation near Rugby, Warwickshire.
Chairman of the bench Ann Wade said the boxer was travelling at a ”foolishly high speed” but chose not to give him a ban due to his extensive charity work.
She said: ”We want to keep you on the road for all the charity work you do.
”We have heard some indication of the schedule you keep in order to get to charity events and we feel six points will provide a deterrent to future speeding.”
Bruno was handed six penalty points, fined £775 and ordered to pay £100 costs.
Jo Bullock, a spokeswoman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said that Bruno had been treated leniently.
She said: ”He can certainly consider himself extremely fortunate to have escaped a ban because being caught driving at more than 100mph usually results in an immediate disqualification.
”More than that, he is very fortunate not to have been involved in an accident, which at that speed could have had extremely serious consequences.”
