A north Cumbria man has been sentenced for a drug-driving offence which was committed during the ongoing crown court trial of two killers he had helped in the aftermath of a brutal Carlisle murder.
Michael Celmins, 33, had provided Kane Hull and Liam Porter with a stolen car as the pair prepared to flee the country after the fatal stabbing of Ryan Kirkpatrick in September, 2021.
Hull and Porter were handed life sentences by a judge late last year after being convicted of murdering Mr Kirkpatrick. Hull had launched an execution-style attack with a blade as accomplice Porter lent crucial backing at the scene.
Celmins was also jailed after he admitted assisting an offender. He and two others who also admitted that charge aided Hull and Porter’s desperate bid to evade justice after the killing with the pair finally tracked down in Southern Ireland.
Last month, Celmins’ prison term was doubled to 24 months by Appeal Court judges who deemed his initial 12-month sentence unduly lenient.
Celmins was back in court today (thurs). In front of magistrates, he admitted committing a crime while on bail as jurors was sitting during week two of Hull and Porter’s trial at the city’s crown court.
Prosecutor George Shelley said Celmins had been driving a Vauxhall Insignia which was stopped on the A6 at Carleton, on the outskirts of Carlisle, at 2-30pm on October 18.
Police could smell cannabis when speaking with Celmins, who complied with a drugs wipe and gave a positive test for the class B drug and also cocaine. When a blood sample was analysed, it showed the level of cocaine in his system was just over eight times the legal limit for driving.
Celmins admitted drug-driving on a day when jurors had heard distressing evidence about attempts by a woman and police officers to save Mr Kirkpatrick’s life by administering CPR.
Defence lawyer David Leach, for Celmins, previously of Irthington, said during today’s court hearing: “He accepts taking cocaine some hours before. He says he felt fine to drive.”
Serving prisoner Celmins, who will remain behind bars until later this year, was handed an six-day jail term for the cocaine crime. This will be served concurrently, alongside his current sentence, and when released he must also complete a three-year driving ban.
