A DANGEROUS driver who got behind the wheel while drugged-up on Christmas Day has been handed another chance by the courts.
Christopher McCormick was also without a licence and without insurance when he put other road users at risk.
But the 36-year-old has been given yet another chance – despite being committing while the subject of a community order for growing cannabis.
He was sentenced at Warrington Magistrates’ Court, having pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to charges of dangerous driving, failing to stop for police, driving without a licence, driving without insurance and two counts of drug driving.
The court heard how all of the offences were committed on Midland Way in Warrington town centre on Christmas Day last year, December 25.
He was driving a grey Nissan Juke in a dangerous manner, putting other road users at risk, and failed to stop when required to do so by police officers.
When he did eventually stop, checks revealed that he was driving the car otherwise than in accordance with a licence, as well as without third-party insurance.
Further tests carried out were positive for controlled drugs, namely delta-nine-tetrahydrocannabinol, found in cannabis, and benzoylecgonine, which is the breakdown product of cocaine.
The court was made aware of McCormick’s previous convictions, which include a community order imposed in March this year for growing 10 cannabis plants.
He also was previously jailed back in January 2012 following a fight at a barbecue.
For the driving offences, magistrates remarked that the severity of the incident merited a custodial sentence.
However, taking his guilty pleas into account, and a determination by the probation service that he is a ‘realistic prospect for rehabilitation’ in the community, the sentence was suspended.
McCormick, of Huntley Street in Sankey Bridges, was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison suspended for 18 months.
This will include 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days and a drug rehabilitation requirement for six months, while he must also pay court costs of £85.
In addition, the defendant was disqualified from driving for four years and must pass an extended retest after this period elapses before getting back behind the wheel.
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