Prince William Friend Guilty Of Drink Driving

A close friend of Prince William has been found guilty of drink driving, despite claiming his iPhone interfered with a breath-test machine.

Guy Pelly was pulled over while at the wheel of his Audi R8 GT V10 Coupe in London's Knightsbridge, in the early hours during May last year.

The 32-year-old initially refused to give a roadside breath test before being taken to Belgravia Police Station to be tested on an intoximeter machine.

He was found to have 52 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - well over the legal limit of 35.

During his trial, defence lawyers claimed radio waves from Pelly's iPhone and police radios interfered with the machine, making the reading unsafe.

But District Judge John Zani ruled that Pelly was guilty of drink driving.

Pelly was barred from driving for two-and-a-half years and ordered to pay £7,120 in costs and fines.

Handing down his ruling at Westminster Magistrates' Court, he said: "Notwithstanding exhaustive expert evidence and lengthy submissions made on his behalf, I am entirely satisfied Mr Pelly has not produced any evidence that raises the realistic possibility that the evidential breath machine in operation at Belgravia Police Station malfunctioned and produced inaccurate or unreliable readings.

"I am able to state that I am entirely satisfied that Mr Pelly has either deliberately chosen to underplay the amount of alcohol that he consumed in the period of time leading up to his arrest in the early hours... or his memory has genuinely failed him."

He added that he is "entirely satisfied with which Mr Pelly stands charged has been amply proved beyond any reasonable doubt and that he is guilty of the offence of driving with excess alcohol".

Pelly has been part of Prince William and Harry's inner circle of friends for years.

The Royals attended his wedding in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier this year.

He has managed several nightclubs in the capital, including Public and Whisky Mist and is regularly described as a "London aristocrat".