Swaffham man Luke Attfield appears in King’s Lynn court after drug-driving offences

A man with a “very clear drug problem” was more than ten times the legal cocaine limit when he was pulled over by police.

Luke Attfield, 29, pleaded guilty to three separate offences when he appeared at Lynn Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

They included two counts of drug-driving and one of driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.

Crown prosecutor Nicola Lamb told magistrates that police were on lay-by patrol at Brandon Road, Swaffham on October 26 last year when their attention was drawn to Attfield’s vehicle.

One of the officers in attendance recognised the defendant, and suspected that he was driving without insurance.

Attfield, of Merryweather Road in Swaffham, was pulled over and spoken to – with police discovering that he only had a provisional driving licence at the time.

Due to the manner of his driving, Attfield was asked to perform drug tests – and he provided a sample which showed he had 517mcg of Benzoylecgonine, a cocaine breakdown, per litre of blood in his system. The legal limit is 50mcg.

He also had 3.3mcg of cannabis per litre of blood at the time, with the limit being 2mcg.

Attfield previously drove without a licence in 2013, and was also been convicted for possession of a Class B drug in 2021.

In mitigation, solicitor George Sorrell told magistrates that Attfield moved to West Norfolk from Essex with his mother two years ago.

He said that the defendant “very clearly has a drug problem”, but was informed that he has been complying “very well” with a community order handed to him for a previous offence.

Probation officer John O’Grady confirmed that Attfield was doing “not too bad” and has completed his unpaid work.

“Last October, he was consuming these drugs, but things have improved since then – I hope,” Mr Sorrell added.

For his drug-driving offences, magistrates – led by Ginni Hutton – disqualified Attfield from driving for 16 months.

They also fined him £120, and ordered him to pay £105 in legal costs and a £48 victim surcharge.

His licence was endorsed for his other offence, while his ongoing community order was left in place.