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18
Feb
A Bradford man has been sentenced for a string of drug-driving offences.
Callum Hudson appeared at Harrogate Magistrates Court for sentencing on Friday (February 14) after pleading guilty to three counts of driving a vehicle with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit.
Kaye Barnard, prosecuting, told the court police officers were on patrol in Bradford on August 16, 2024, when they saw a car being “driven with poor control” on Idle Road.
Officers stopped the car, which was being driven by Hudson, and he was suspected to be under the influence.
Ms Barnard said the 21-year-old defendant provided a blood sample, which gave a reading of 9.8 micrograms of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol – knows as THC – per litre of blood.
Then on September 10, police officers stopped a car on Market Place in Knaresborough at around 3pm.
The court heard officers could “smell cannabis” in Hudson’s vehicle.
He gave a blood sample, which showed 3.3 micrograms of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol per litre of blood.
Ms Barnard told the court there was “evidence of drug use” inside Hudson’s car on the third occasion, when he was driving on Wakefield Road in Brighouse on October 13, 2024.
That same day, the defendant gave a reading of 3.4 micrograms of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol per litre of blood.
The court heard Hudson, of Orchard Grove, has several previous convictions.
Keith Blackwell, defending, told the court Hudson is a “young man with a number of personal difficulties”.
He said the defendant resorted to cannabis to make himself feel better.
The court heard Hudson “has now realised he needs to give up” cannabis, due to the offences and for health reasons.
Mr Blackwell added:
He has cut the cannabis down and is attempting to wean himself off. He has started to be self-motivated to change his ways.
He clearly has some promise and wants to take the benefit of the help being offered to him, so his future life can be more normal.
The magistrates sentenced Hudson to an 18-month community order. As part of the order, he must complete 25 rehabilitation activity days and 200 hours of unpaid work.
He was also excluded from an area of Bradford.
Hudson was also banned from driving for 16 months and ordered to pay £199 in total to the court.
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