Scarborough drug-driver found to have array of weapons inside car including police-style baton

Harry Woodhead, 24, was also found to have been drug-driving, having tested positive for cocaine, York Crown Court heard.

He also had no insurance to drive the vehicle, said prosecutor Kelly Sherif.

Woodhead was stopped in High Street, Eastfield, at about 9.45am on October 29 last year.

Ms Sherif said two patrol officers pulled Woodhead over to check his documents.

She added: “When asked if he was insured, he replied: ‘No, not really,’”.

A blood test revealed that Woodhead was over the specified limit for the main metabolite of cocaine, which he said he had taken three days previously.

While Woodhead was in custody, officers searched the car and found an array of potentially lethal weapons including a black-handled hatchet, an extendable truncheon and a machete, which was found in the boot wrapped in a sheath.

They also found a wooden-handled hammer.

Woodhead, a father-of-one, initially told officers he was on a test drive to “assess” whether he wanted to buy the vehicle.

He even gave police the name of a local dealership where, he claimed, it was up for sale at £1,000.

Enquiries revealed he wasn’t insured and the car belonged to a named woman, said Ms Sherif.

Woodhead, of Aberdeen Walk, then told police he had fallen out with his girlfriend and had been to collect his belongings from her house when he was pulled over.

The prosecution accepted this as his basis of plea.

He was charged with two counts of carrying an offensive weapon, one count of possessing a bladed article in a public place, driving without insurance and drug-driving.

He admitted the offences and appeared for sentence yesterday (July 22).

The court heard he had eight previous convictions for offences including driving while over the specified limit for drugs and possessing a weapon, namely a CS-gas-type canister.

In December last year, he received a community order for offences which post-dated those for which he was about to be sentenced.

Woodhead’s solicitor advocate Stephen Munro was spared the need for mitigation after judge Simon Hickey said he was prepared to suspend the inevitable jail sentence.

Mr Hickey described the weapons found in the car as “worrying” and warned Woodhead: “Cocaine is going to destroy your young life.”

The four-month prison sentence was suspended for a year because of Woodhead’s young age and guilty pleas.

He was also ordered to complete a 20-day rehabilitation programme and banned from driving for three years.