An Ullswater hotel worker caught with class A drugs just 24 hours after he drove directly at a police officer has been jailed for three years.
In August 2019, 46-year-old Michael Patrick Kinsella was handed a 14-month jail term for driving his Vauxhall Astra at a PC with no attempt to deviate on June 8 that year.
At the time, Kinsella was wanted on an arrest warrant having failed to turn up at court three days earlier.
The officer had leapt out of the way but was struck on the hand by a wing mirror of the Astra, which was driven off following the early morning incident.
Kinsella was finally caught 24 hours later, on 9th June, when spotted behind the wheel of a different vehicle.
And, after he pulled over, 11.6g of powder cocaine, a quantity of crack cocaine and almost £300 cash was found in his possession.
Kinsella, a former DJ, denied possessing the drugs with intent to supply, but a Carlisle Crown Court jury convicted him on both counts.
Jurors had been told he refused to provide a mobile phone PIN to police after his arrest, and that the high purity drugs found in his jeans pockets could be “bulked out” into greater quantities.
Kinsella admitted in evidence he was underweight and an “embarrassing mess” during 2019 having battled a cocaine addiction for many years.
However, he spoke of latterly being clean of illicit substances after seeking professional help, and of working for the past year at Ullswater’s Inn on the Lake hotel in Glenridding.
Kinsella had been facing a minimum seven-year prison sentence for repeat cocaine supply offending.
But after the judge, Recorder David Temkin QC, heard mitigation and submissions on the defendant’s behalf, Kinsella was jailed for a total of three years.
