An uninsured driver was caught with illegal drugs — just months after being spared jail for pointing an imitation firearm at a man in an Appleby car park.
Joe Forrester, 26, was originally sentenced by judge last March for pointing the “gun” with an outstretched arm at a male while “extremely drunk” and high on cannabis.
This had left the victim “terrified”, Carlisle Crown Court was told. “He wasn’t to know whether that was a weapon or not,” a prosecutor had said. It emerged the firearm was not capable of firing due to an internal fault.
For what was his first law break, Forrester received an eight-month prison sentence which was suspended for 18 months. He admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and was also ordered to complete rehabilitation work and community service.
But Forrester fell foul of the law again just after 8pm on October 9. A PC had cause to stop a black Audi being driven by Forrester on Penrith’s Ullswater Road because it was not insured. “The defendant was shaking and nervous,” prosecutor Andy Travis told Carlisle magistrates today.
Forrester, of Glebe Road, Appleby, and his vehicle were searched by an officer. “He located a small, clear bag of mushroom stalks in the driver’s side door,” said Mr Travis.
“A green bag under the driver’s seat contained several individual clear bags — 19 in total — with (illegal) magic mushrooms inside.”
A personal use amount of cannabis was later recovered from a ground-floor bedroom at his home. Forrester pleaded guilty to illegal possession of class A magic mushrooms and class B cannabis, and having no insurance, further admitting he had breached the suspended sentence by doing so.
The court heard Forrester had shown overall good progress with the previous court order and worked full-time in the haulage industry. A line manager spoke highly of him.
Jeff Smith, defending, asked magistrates to punish Forrester instead of committing his case to the crown court, suggesting: “Realistically a crown court judge is simply going to be, in my respectful submission, irritated by the committal of these matters to the crown court when they are quite capable of being dealt with today.”
But magistrates did commit Forrester’s case to the crown court. He is due to appear there on May 17 and was bailed in the meantime.
