Berwick man given suspended jail sentence for drug driving

John Keenan, 38, pleaded guilty to two charges of drug driving (cocaine and BZE, its breakdown product) when he appeared at Berwick Magistrates’ Court.

Magistrates heard he came to the attention of police at 8.15am on April 8 while driving a Ford Transit van on the A1 at Haggerston.

Prosecutor James Long said: “Officers started following the vehicle and felt the defendant was trying to lose them. It was not a pursuit.”

The court heard the vehicle was stopped at Scremerston and the defendant gave a positive roadside test. He was taken into custody and found to have 50ugs cocaine in his system. The limit is 10ugs. He also had 800ugs of BZE, the limit is 50ugs.

In mitigation, Ian O’Rourke said the defendant had relapsed into cocaine at the time of the incident after a period of mental health issues.

"He had taken cocaine the day before and it was present in his system,” he told the court.

The court heard he was unemployed and homeless. He had given his mother’s address in Spittal to the court.

Magistrates called for pre-sentence reports but were told the defendant was not prepared to engage with the probation service.

"I feel like I’m being set up to fail. I just want to get it over and done with today,” the defendant told the court.

Chairman of magistrates Ben Humphrey told the defendant: “We were going to sentence you to a community order but you have indicated that you are not going to comply so we are going to give a custodial sentence of 16 weeks, suspended for two years.”

He was also given a 52 month driving ban due to it being a repeat offence and must sit an extended test to regain his licence. He must also pay costs and a surcharge of £139.