Drug driver gets three-year ban after repeated offences

Stuart Dean, 49, had two illicit drugs in his system when he was stopped in a Land Rover Discovery in Burgh Road.

Boston Magistrates’ Court heard on Wednesday that he had a previous drug-driving conviction in 2018.

In the latest offence at about 9.20pm on November 16 last year, Dean had six times the prescribed limit of cocaine and three times the limit for MDMA.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of drug-driving, which also included the body breakdown product of cocaine.

In mitigation, Phillipa Chatterton said it had been a routine stop by the police – there had been no aggravating features of Dean’s driving.

She added: “It’s quite clear there was a lot going on in my client’s life at that time. He relapsed into weekend drug use – this stop was on a Wednesday and he had taken the drugs some days prior.”

Miss Chatterton told the court that Dean’s new caravan transportation business would have to fold as a result of the conviction and resultant disqualification.

Dean, of St Andrew’s Drive, was banned for each of the three offences, to run concurrently.

He was also fined £160 and ordered to pay £85 costs and £64 victim surcharge.

*For more crime and reports from reports from the courts, see this week’s Skegness Standard newspaper, out on Wednesday. Also follow our crime reports on this website and those shared of our Lincolnshire World Facebook page.