Driver, 21, passes drug test before telling cops: ‘I’ve taken ketamine’
A DOG groomer passed a roadside drug test before admitting to police that she had taken ketamine.
Officers were about to let Abbie Kenningley, 21, drive away when she made the confession.
She had been pulled over after police spotted her driving her Volkswagen Polo erratically in Southport, Merseyside, in the early hours of December 3, last year.
Although a breath and drug wipe test came back negative, a suspicious constable thought Kenningley was unsteady on her feet and appeared dazed. He asked her outright what she had being doing that night and she replied: ‘Ketamine.’
The business owner was arrested and further tests conducted at a police station. They showed she was five times the driving limit for the party drug.
Drug testing kits available to police differ between forces, but the Merseyside Police website suggests their officers can only test for cannabis and cocaine at the roadside, and screening for other drugs such as ecstasy, LSD, ketamine and heroin are carried out at a police station.
Yesterday Kenningley, who lives in a remote farmhouse with her parents in the village of Banks, near Southport, was facing a road ban after she admitted to driving under the influence of drugs.
Magistrates in Sefton were told officers stopped Kenningley after pulling up next to her at traffic lights at 1.10am.
Alex Farrow, prosecuting, said: ‘ They could see the defendant alone in a car. She appeared dazed and pulled in front of the police car.’
He said Kenningley failed to indicate on a roundabout and drifted across the central white line into the opposing carriageway, which prompting officers to stop her.
‘She was asked to get out of the vehicle,’ Mr Farrow said. ‘She was unsteady on her feet. She appeared lethargic, dazed and confused. It was noted that her eyes were glazed over.’ However, Kenningley’s solicitor Marcella Salter argued her client had passed an alcohol and drug test at the roadside and did not accept that she had driven erratically that night.
‘There was no alcohol in her system, the drug wipe is clear,’ she said. ‘The officers then ask the defendant, “What have you been doing?”, and through her own admission, she said she had been to a friend’s and used ketamine.’
Tests showed Kenningley had 96 micrograms of ketamine per 100 ml of blood. The legal limit is 20mg.
Ms Salter explained that the defendant, who has no previous convictions, was ‘remorseful’ and ‘trying to move forward’. She added that being disqualified from driving would ‘ no doubt impact her business’.
As Kenningley does not accept the Merseyside Police account of her driving on the night, the case was adjourned for a Newton hearing to determine her actions behind the wheel. It will take place in Liverpool in July.
Kenningley faces disqualification from driving and a fine when she is sentenced at a later date.
‘Five times the legal limit’