Dental trainee caught drug driving 3 times
ATRAINEE dental nurse was caught drug driving three times in less than three months - including while on ketamine.
Emily Roebuck, from Bramhall, took the sedative before getting behind the wheel of her Peugeot 107.
After police pulled her over in January, tests showed ketamine levels in her blood were more than 29 times the limit for the driving on the drug.
Roebuck, 22, was arrested for a second time just five weeks later in Cheadle after a passer-by found her slumped in the driver’s seat.
While police were investigating those incidents, Roebuck ploughed her Peugeot into the back of a car in New Mills, then drove away as police travelled to the scene, only to crash into two other vehicles.
Tests showed she was more than four times the drug drive limit for ketamine and almost twice the limit for the painkiller diazapam.
Roebuck admitted two charges of drug driving; possessing diazepam; and failing to stop after an accident, at Stockport Magistrates’ Court. She was banned from the road for three years.
Roebuck was disqualified for 22 months for the first drug driving offence at a hearing in June. The court heard the three incidents happened between January 23 and April 2 after Roebuck obtained the drugs while battling anxiety and depression.
On the first occasion tests showed ketamine levels in her blood of 591 microgrammes per litre of blood. The driving limit is 20 microgrammes.
Roebuck was released under investigation, before being caught at the wheel of her car in Cheadle at 9.15pm on March 2 while under the influence of drugs.
The last offence happened on April 2, when police stopped Roebuck at 10.20pm in New Mills.
Victoria Newman, prosecuting, said: “The witness said she was stationary in her car and waiting for traffic to pass, when her vehicle was struck from behind by the defendant’s car.
“It was hit with enough force to set off both of the airbags. The witness got out of her vehicle and told the defendant not to move whilst she called 999.
“The witness was asking if she was okay, but the defendant then left the scene before the police arrived.
“She then came to a stop after colliding with another two vehicles.”
Tests showed levels of ketamine and diazepam in Roebuck’s blood were 86 microgrammes per litre of blood and 800 microgrammes per litre of blood respectively. The driving limit for diazapam is 500 microgrammes per litre of blood.
In mitigation, defence lawyer Steve McHugh said: “I don’t think it’s been my client’s finest three months in her life. But she has cooperated throughout and entered guilty pleas at the first opportunity.
“Since this happened, however, she has happily turned her life around and gained employment. She has effectively taken on board all the assistance that could be offered as she suffers from anxiety and depression.
“She is disappointed in herself and her father is mortified at the position his daughter finds herself in. As regards the failure to stop she had been looking at Google Maps and it was a relatively short distance. It was not as serious as it could have been.
“Her current employment involves her taking her two buses in the morning and two buses in the evening.”
Roebuck was ordered to complete a 12-month community order and enrol on a six-month drug rehabilitation course. She must complete 180 hours of unpaid work - and pay costs and surcharges of £170.