The husband of television star Anna Ryder Richardson had his sentence for speeding dramatically slashed by magistrates in Haverfordwest, after they decided the normal punishment would cause him exceptional hardship.

Colin MacDougall of Manor House Wildlife Park, St Florence had already admitted driving at 93mph between junction 34 and junction 35 of the M4.

He already had nine points on his licence for previous offences. Six of those points, were for failing to give information regarding a driver's identity, the court heard.

"There are hundreds of thousands of things I do which require travel," 43-year-old MacDougall said, defending himself.

"I have two young kids and I live in the middle of a field. I have a new business that requires me to use a car. I'm required to be all over the country to do a lot of animal movement and to be in different zoos.

"My wife is away a lot and I have to get the kids to school."

MacDougall, who has been driving for 27 years, added that he felt his six and seven year old children were too young to take the two mile bus journey to school by themselves.

He also said that he has the gun cover for the wildlife park, which meant that if an animal escaped and became dangerous he would need to drive to it and, if necessary, shoot it.

After some consideration magistrates endorsed MacDougall's licence with a further four penalty points, which meant that he automatically lost his licence.

However, they decided that a six month ban would cause him exceptional hardship and disqualified him from driving for seven weeks.

MacDougall was also ordered to pay £450 which included a £350 fine, £85 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

After the court appearance MacDougall's wife Anna Ryder Richardson said: "There isn't any excuse at all. He's very bad and now we have all got to suffer for seven weeks.

"He's not denying it and we won't be doing it again."