Donald Trump’s “favourite British artist”, who was behind a controversial $250 bill featuring the US President’s face, has appeared in Jersey’s courts for a drink-driving charge.
Iain Alexander Shepherd – who goes by Iain Alexander as an artist and has lived in Jersey for the past decade – was described as a man of “exceptionally good character” at his sentencing in the Magistrate’s Court.
Centenier Sharon Rive told the Magistrate’s Court on Friday that on 24 September at about 7.18 pm, Mr Shepherd parked outside Green Island Village Store and was seen rolling backwards, before he drover further into the space.
He ate a chocolate bar he hadn’t paid for and a member of the public who smelled alcohol on him called the centenier, who then called the States police, the court heard.
He tested at 108 micrograms of alcohol in his breath.
Shepherd lives in Jersey but frequently travels to the US for work, the court heard – and he was going through an “extreme set of circumstances where he became unable to cope” at the time of his offending, Advocate Julia-Anne Dix, defending, said.
Advocate Dix said he was going through an “extreme set of circumstances where he was unable to cope”. He had been abstinent for ten weeks but drank due to insomnia and because he had received some bad news from work in the US.
She described Shepherd sa having “exceptionally good character”. Not only had he never been in front of the court before, but in ten years of living in Jersey, he had raised funds for Hospice and volunteered in schools across the Island, Advocate Dix said.
In 2016, he sold a painting of David Bowie to benefit Jersey Hospice Care – raising £30,000 for the charity, described by the charity as “an incredible gesture”.
Earlier this year, Mr Shepherd told the Washington Post that US President Donald Trump called him “his favourite British artist”.
He told the newspaper that he had designed a $250 bill, which the Trump administration controversially tried to make into currency, with the US Treasury Department moving to make prototypes of the banknote.
The banknote would feature Mr Trump’s face – a proposal that attracted criticism as it has been more than 150 years since a living figure was featured on US currency.
Shepherd told the Washington Post that Mr Trump had suggested his own design ideas.
Relief Magistrate Sarah Fitz told Shepherd: “This was such a high reading. You must understand that you have come so close to custody today.”
She sentenced him to 130 hours of community service, the equivalent of 7 months in custody. She disqualified him from driving for 36 months, the minimum available, and Shepherd will have to resit his test.
