Shane Richie banned from driving after speeding

EastEnders actor Shane Richie blamed "baiting" from paparazzi as he was banned from driving for six months after being caught speeding.

Court records revealed the 62-year-old, real name Shane Roche, was hit with the driving ban on 23 September after he admitted the offence in Reigate, Surrey.

He was also fined £500 at Guildford Magistrates' Court and ordered to pay £320 in costs and a surcharge.

Richie, best known for playing Alfie Moon in the BBC soap, is already awaiting trial over a separate alleged offence of drink-driving in Harlow, Essex.

In a note to the court, regarding the speeding offence, Richie said he had been pursued daily by photographers due to his "very public divorce".

The actor accused the press of "constantly baiting me" for months in an attempt to get an angry reaction on camera.

"This is not an excuse for going five miles over the limit, but just a reason why I may have sped up on that particular road," he said.

Richie was caught on camera driving a Ford at 35mph (56km/h) along Reigate Hill - which is a steep climb leading to and from the nearby M25 junction - on 15 March.

In his note to the court, Richie apologised for the offence and said: "Over the past several months I've been followed from my place of work in Borehamwood (Hertfordshire) where I film sometimes six days a week by our British tabloid press…. to my home."

He described being followed into Reigate and to the supermarket.

"It's no secret now that I'm going through a very public divorce and for the last several months the British press have suspected this and have been constantly baiting me and almost always looking for a reaction from me to sell their newspapers," Richie added.

Richie entered a guilty plea in writing and his case was dealt with in private via the Single Justice Procedure, external.