Prolific drug driver convicted of seven offences

A man who was found to be drug driving three times in just two months has been convicted of seven offences.

Northamptonshire Police received community intelligence regarding Ben Aaron Barker, 27, of Waynflete Drive, Brackley, who was alleged to be driving his car while impaired through drugs.

His vehicle details were added to our ANPR system and he was stopped for the first time on the A43 near Towcester on December 2, last year, and was arrested after failing a roadside drug wipe test. A blood sample was then obtained from him, which was sent for analysis, and he was released under investigation pending the results.

However, only 20 days later on Christmas Eve, Barker was again stopped in the same car – a black VW Urban, in Rothersthorpe Road, Northampton, and arrested for the same offence after failing another drug wipe and for possession of cannabis.

Then on January 16 this year, Barker was arrested for the third time in Harvester Way, Northampton, after failing a drug wipe test and for possession of cannabis.

Due to him being arrested three times for the same offences in under two months, officers arranged for his blood samples to be fast-tracked so he could be processed through the courts as soon as possible.

Within a matter of weeks, we received the results and all samples showed high levels of both cannabis and cocaine.

He was charged with five counts of driving a motor vehicle while over the specified drug limit and two counts of possessing cannabis.

He appeared at Northampton Magistrates’ Court on March 11, 2022, where he pleaded guilty to all seven charges and at the same court last week (April 28) he was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, disqualified from driving for 28 months, ordered to undertake unpaid work and a rehabilitation course, and fined £313.

PC James Condon from the Force’s Road Crime Team, said: “Ben Barker showed a complete disregard for the law – being stopped multiple times in a short timeframe and being over the limit, which as we know, can have fatal consequences.

“This was some really good work to get this case fast-tracked involving the use of community intelligence, teamwork and our incredible ANPR network.”