Celebrity ex-gangster Dave Courtney has been banned from driving for six months after failing to reveal who was driving his car when it was clocked by speed cameras.

Courtney, 47, failed to tell police at the speed camera enforcement office in Billericay who was behind the wheel of his car in January last year.

Courtney gained notoriety after becoming friends with notorious East End villains the Kray twins and having a long-standing war of words with one of their rivals "Mad" Frankie Fraser.

His criminal career has also seen him involved in debt collecting and assault and he was once dubbed the "Yellow Pages of the underworld".

More recently Courtney, of Plumstead, London, has written several books about his escapades.

Yesterday at Basildon Magistrates' Court he pleaded guilty to failing to identify the driver of his vehicle.

He was given three penalty points, fined £120 and ordered to pay £43 costs.