A MAN who was pulled over for speeding and a broken headlight refused to give police a blood sample after testing positive for drugs because he was frightened of needles, a court has heard.
Barry Leek, 39, of Cae Cymric in Newtown, said he had taken "a lot of medication" after suffering from a tooth abscess and was concerned about giving a "false positive" test result at the police station.
Leek was banned from driving for 12 months and sentenced to a 12-month community order with 40 days unpaid work after pleading guilty to failing to provide a blood sample when he appeared at Welshpool Magistrates' Court on Tuesday (March 28).
Helen Tench, prosecutor, told the court that Leek was stopped on January 25 this year due to a defective headlight and excessive speed. Police did a roadside drugs wipe which gave a positive result.
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Mrs Tench said Leek was "frightened about needles and worried about a false positive result at the time".
Robert Hanratty, mitigating for Leek, said: "The only reasonable excuse is medical. Mr Leek thought he was inevitably going to get a ban due to the medication he was on. He is happy to go along with probation's recommended sentence."
Julian Davies, probation officer, told the court that Leek used cannabis two days before being stopped by police and "thought he was OK to drive".
"Mr Leek tells me he had taken a lot of medication due to a tooth abscess which he was concerned may cause a false positive result," Mr Davies said.
"He says he was not in a good place at the time and refused to give a blood test for those reasons, and that he had a previous bad experience.
"Looking back, he tells me he should have given a sample of blood because not providing had a worse outcome."
Mr Davies added that Leek, who admitted being a regular cannabis user for most of his adult life, is at a medium risk of reoffending and a low risk of harm.
Rebecca Klug, chairman of the bench, said: "For failing to provide specimen for analysis we are going to impose a community order for 12 months and as part of that 40 unpaid work and 15 rehabilitation requirement days with Kaleidoscope helping you to work through issues of drugs and also spent on looking at emotional resilience.
"It’s very important that you work with probation through the order.
“We are going to disqualify you from driving for 12 months."
Leek was also ordered to pay a £114 victim surcharge and £85 court costs.
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