Whitchurch VW drug-driver gets suspended prison sentence

Joseph Challenor, of Whitchurch, was handed a suspended prison sentence after he admitted drug-driving <i>(Image: PA)</i>
Joseph Challenor, of Whitchurch, was handed a suspended prison sentence after he admitted drug-driving (Image: PA)
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A Whitchurch man has received a suspended prison sentence after he admitted drug-driving.

Joseph Challenor was brought before magistrates in Telford on Friday (March 13) facing three charges.

The 30-year-old, of Queensway in Whitchurch, was accused of drug-driving, driving without insurance, and failing to stop when asked to by a police officer.

He pleaded guilty to all three offences.

The court was told that Challenor had been driving a Volkswagen Polo on Chester Road in Whitchurch on November 29 with no insurance. A blood test later revealed he had 696 micrograms (ug) per litre of blood of benzoylecgonine, the metabolite of cocaine. The legal limit is 50ug.

The hearing was also told that the defendant had failed to stop when asked to do so by a police officer on Whitchurch Bypass.

Magistrates handed Challenor an eight-week prison sentence but suspended it for 12 months for the drug-driving offence.

They said this was because the offence was so serious, only a custodial sentence could be justified and because it was the defendant's second offence.

He was also banned from driving for 36 months.

No separate penalty was made for not having insurance or for failing to stop.

Challenor must pay £85 court costs and a £154 victim surcharge.

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