A swimming teacher has been banned from driving after she was found behind the wheel while under the influence of cocaine.
Mum-of-two Gemma Park, 35, was stopped by police after they received an anonymous tip-off from the public that she was driving around the Cove area of Aberdeen while intoxicated.
Park, who was recently convicted of drink-driving, immediately admitted being in possession of cocaine when police stopped her car on Loirston Road, Cove on November 6 last year.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told she had taken the cocaine to “cope” with things that were happening in her life at that time.
Park admitted two charges – being behind the wheel with a cocaine metabolite in her system and being in possession of the class A drug.
Accused immediately admitted having drugs in the car
Fiscal depute Tom Procter said: “A search was made for the accused’s car and she was stopped at around 2pm. She was the only driver of the car.
“She was cautioned and detained under the Misuse of Drugs Act and replied: ‘It’s in my car, just at the front’.
“The constables found a clear plastic bag containing white powder and while the accused was still under caution she confirmed that it was cocaine.”
‘She took the cocaine as a way to cope’
Police found 1.3 grams of cocaine in the car and then took a sample of Park’s saliva for a drug test, which came back positive.
The bag of cocaine found in Park’s car was valued at £10.
Defence agent Graham Morrison told the court that Park had a “previous conviction that wasn’t that long ago”.
He added: “At the time she was struggling to deal with her emotions due to things that were happening in her life.
“She took the cocaine as a way to cope with that.
“This has been a huge weight over her but she has done something about it.”
Mr Morrison went on to say that Park had made strides to turn her life around and quit drugs following her arrest and drink-driving conviction.
Sheriff had take previous convictions into account.
Sentencing Park, Sheriff Philip Mann told her he had to take into account her previous conviction for driving while under the influence of alcohol and – as an alternative to a prison sentence – he would sentence her to a community payback order with one year’s supervision.
He also disqualified Park, of Scylla Drive, Cove, Aberdeen, from driving for three years.
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