John James McCloskey, 24, of Glenshane Road, Feeny, who appeared at Limavady Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, had kept out of trouble since May, when District Judge Eamon King warned him he was in the brink of a prison sentence, the court heard.
Mr McCloskey has been convicted of driving whilst disqualified last December. On December 29 at approximately 6.05pm police observed Mr McCloskey driving a Vauxhall Vectra into his yard on the Glenshane Road before driving out onto the Altinure Road in the direction of Park, a PPS spokesman told the court.
Officers spoke to Mr McCloskey's mother and asked him to call them when he returned home.
Revisiting Mr McCloskey's home later that evening police saw the Vauxhall Vectra in the yard and discovered the engine to be warm from recent use, the court was told.
Mr McCloskey subsequently admitted driving whilst disqualified, driving without insurance and driving whilst a motor test certificate.
Mr McCloskey faced a further charge of dangerous driving arising from an incident near his home on February 6 of this year.
The court learned how Mr McCloskey ran two police checkpoints in the vicinity of the Glenshane Road/Drumrane Road junction, accelerating through both and causing police officers to jump out of the way to avoid being hit.
On that date he was arrested for dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance.
Defence solicitor Paddy McGurk pleaded that Mr McCloskey had kept himself out of trouble since sentencing was deferred for six months in May.
"In his discussions with the probation service it turned out there seems to have been a change of heart on his part, albeit, very late in the day," said Mr McGurk.
He explained that his client had passed a driving theory test and was due to complete a practical test imminently.
"His vice is not drink or drugs but the one vice he does have is an obsession with motor cars," claimed Mr McGurk.
District Judge Eamon King said he had been unaware of Mr McCloskey's dangerous drive of February 6 when he had deferred sentencing for the December 29 offences in May.
He thus ordered a probation service report to decide on the possibility of imposing a community service order on Mr McCloskey for December 10.
He commented: "When I deferred sentence in May it was under the clear understanding that I required you to demonstrate that you could desist from your addiction to motor vehicles insofar as it was leading to breaches of the road traffic legislation.
"To your credit you've come back having done that."