Cocaine paranoia - Malvern drug driver believed he was being followed

Leonard Hodgkins, previously of Elgar Avenue, Malvern, was more than five times the limit for cocaine when he brought himself to the attention of police by twice complaining to officers he was being followed - a misconception fuelled by 'drug-induced paranoia'.

He admitted driving while unfit through drugs in Moat Crescent, Malvern, when he appeared before magistrates in Worcester on Thursday.

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The 46-year-old  appeared over videolink from HMP Bristol where he admitted driving with cocaine and cocaine metabolite BZE in his system on September 25 last year.

SENTENCE: Worcester Magistrates Court (Image: Newsquest)

Sumreen Afsar, prosecuting, said Hodgkins flashed his lights at officers at around 8.45pm and told them he was 'being followed by someone'.

"They provided him with advice and told him to go home," she said.

However, an hour later he called police again, this time on the phone, to say someone was following him and he was advised to go to Malvern Police Station.

"When he arrived, police officers met him and say he was behaving in a very bizarre and odd manner," said Mrs Afsar.

PARANOID: Leonard Hodgkins (Image: West Mercia Police)

A drug swipe revealed 800 microgrammes per litre of blood for the metabolite benzoylecgonine (BZE) - 16 times the limit of 50 microgrammes.

The reading for cocaine was 58 microgrammes per litre of blood, more than five times the legal limit of 10 microgrammes. The reason the limit for illegal drugs is not zero is to factor in any accidental exposure.

Hodgkins is already serving a 40-month prison sentence for causing fear of violence after being recalled to prison. 

Gary Harper, defending, said: "It's one of the strangest cases you will come across today - he has brought himself to the attention of police not once but twice. 

"The reason for that, I would suggest, is drug-induced paranoia. He thinks someone is following him. He brought himself to the attention of police, not the other way around."

Mr Harper stressed that police had not stopped him for bad driving or anything like that. He also said that he should not be treated as driving with two drugs in his system as BZE was a metabolite of the cocaine.

Magistrates banned him from driving for 12 months and ordered him to complete a day's detention, concurrent on each offence. No order was made for prosecution costs or a victim surcharge because of the nature of the sentence.