A BOLTON journalist in an Arab jail facing a drink driving charge will have to wait another two weeks before he knows his fate.

Wes Wright, 43, appeared before a traffic court judge on Saturday in Abu Dhabi following an incident in which he crashed into palace gates.

He is charged with drink driving and driving without a licence.

The case against Mr Wright, of Green Lane, Great Lever, was adjourned until July 26, and he was further remanded in custody in the Wathba Jail until then. The charges against the former Bolton Evening News reporter relate to an accident in which the gates of the presidential palace were damaged.

Mr Wright, who is currently working for the English language newspaper Gulf News, has been in custody since June 27.

British Consul in Abu Dhabi, Mr Alistair McCloud, who has visited Mr Wright in jail, said he was being treated like any other prisoner.

He said the charges were serious although Mr Wright, who has been over in the Arab Emirates for the past two months, was likely to receive a custodial sentence and a fine. Mr Wright's wife Anne said her husband was arrested after a urine sample showed that he had drunk a "miniscule amount" of alcohol.

She said: "He's being looked after very well, he is in good humour and the Consul visits him each week along with legal representatives and colleagues from the company he is working for.

"I have only been able to speak to him in one phone call, but he says jail conditions are better than he expected."

She stressed that her husband was not drunk in charge of a car.

But she added that the moral for anyone going out there is "don't have a drink at all. Even a thimble full of alcohol is not allowed."

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