Driving ban for mum who celebrated new job with cocaine and cannabis

A Sunderland mum who celebrated a new job by partying on cocaine and cannabis was caught driving over the drug-drive limit the next day.

Helen Coe, 43, was pulled over by police as she ferried her adult son in her Renault Clio near her home in Hylton Road on Sunday, June 11, a court heard.

The night before she had taken up a friend’s offer to attend a party where she had experimented for the first time with the prohibited substances, it was said.

Her solicitor insisted she was shocked to discover she had given a positive roadside drugs’ swipe during what she believed was a routine traffic stop.

Coe pleaded guilty to two drug drive charges and wept throughout her appearance at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court.

She is starting a 12-month roads’ disqualification but is not expected to lose her new employment, her boss submitting a glowing reference.

Prosecutor Paul Coulson said: “An officer on mobile patrol in Hylton Road, stopped the defendant, while acting on intelligence received.

“He spoke to her and through deduction made that she was possibly driving under the influence of drugs. A drugs’ swipe was positive.

“An evidential drug drive procedure was undertaken at the police station. This lady has no previous convictions.

“The crown considers this to be high culpability because as there is evidence of drugs, An aggravating factor is that her 25-year-old son was in the car.”

Coe gave a reading in blood for cocaine breakdown product BZE of not less than 126mcg, against a legal limit of 50mcg.

She also provided a reading for cannabis breakdown product THC in blood of not less than 3.1mcg. The legal limit is 2mcg.

Gerry Armstrong, defending, said: “She is a woman of impeccable character who has made a tragic mistake.

“She doesn’t drink alcohol and is an only parent who has brought her son up and has got herself into employment.

“She was invited by a friend to go to a party and let her hair down. Someone said, ‘Try this’, and another said, ‘Have a puff’ of that. She’d never done that before.

“She went home, and the next day didn’t think about drugs being in her system, but she was stopped by the police.”

Coe was also fined £500 by magistrates who said she had shown genuine remorse, and must pay a £200 victim surcharge.