A BANNED motorist who drove at a police community support officer in the Lake District while over the cannabis limit has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Carlisle Crown Court heard that police had been directing a diversion on the A592 near Troutbeck on October 10 last year following a road crash.
Attempts were made by the PCSO to open the door of James Andrew Maylor’s Volkswagen Golf after he refused to wind down the window, and a cannabis smell was detected. He then took off, turned and drove – the PCSO thought – at her. “She jumped on to a verge to avoid the perceived threat,” prosecutor Brendan Burke told the court.
It emerged Maylor – who had previously been disqualified from driving – was two-and-a-half times the cannabis limit.
He admitted careless driving, driving while unfit through drugs, driving while disqualified and having no insurance.
Maylor, of Burnsall Court, Chesil Bank, Huddersfield, was sentenced this afternoon (FRI) by Judge James Adkin, who noted that the defendant needed help to address mental health problems.
A four-month jail term was suspended for two years, and Maylor must complete a rehabilitation activity requirement, and a four-month night-time curfew.
He was also given a two-year driving ban. “This is the last time a court will permit mitigation based on your mental health problems to keep you out of prison,” Judge Adkin told him.
