Man from near Bicester faces ban after being caught driving under cocaine, ketamine and cannabis

Thomas Desborough, of Middleton Road, Bucknell, has been disqualified from driving for four years and ordered to pay £85 and a £114 surcharge, as well as complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

The 23-year-old was sentenced at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, November 16 after pleading guilty to three counts of driving with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit, namely cocaine, cannabis, and ketamine.

The sentence relates to an incident on May 14 at around 3pm when an officer came across Desborough and his van, which had hit an electric pylon and was sparking and burning tarmac on the road in Kirtlington.

Desborough had no recollection of the crash and was given a roadside drug wipe, which he tested positive for, so the officer arrested him. He was charged on November 1.

Investigating officer PC Amy Boughton, of the Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit, said: “Desborough was found to have been driving with three separate controlled substances in his system.

“Driving while over prescribed limits of any substance presents a real danger to other road users and is one of the fatal four.

“I am pleased that the courts have reflected the severity of this incident and have disqualified him from driving, so he will be off the roads for the next four years.”

To report a crime to the Thames Valley Police, visit https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/ro/report/ocr/af/how-to-report-a-crime/