Client Receives Community Order for Drug-Driving

Case study summary

Our client was arrested in July 2023 after being pulled over while driving on a main road in Stockport with over four times the legal limit of Cocaine and Benzoylglycine in her system. She was charged with two offences of drug driving and a community order was issued.

Case study

Our client was charged with driving with a proportion of a controlled drug over the specified limit in her system. Our client struggled with alcohol and drug abuse as a result of severe childhood trauma she experienced and she used these methods to cope when she experienced mental health decline. She was a single mother of two and full-time carer for her 13-year old daughter who suffers from severe epilepsy and has up to twenty epileptic episodes per day. She was also responsible for caring for her disabled mother.

Our client felt ashamed by her behaviour and recognised how dangerous and reckless she had been. This was her second offence of similar type in three years, after a conviction for drunk-driving in 2021. In spite of this previous offence, after hearing the mitigation presented on her behalf by our expert advocate, the Court passed a sentence of an 18-month Community Order and the obligatory disqualification from driving.

Our client was thrilled with the outcome as she was concerned about the prospect of a custodial sentence and who would care for her children were she incarcerated. She was now able to move on with her life and begin serving the duration of her community order in order to put this incident behind her.