Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Software developer took cocaine then drove to shop for dog food

Christian Nilssen, who hadn't slept well prior to a planned day of DIY, discovered he had some cocaine left over and decided to take it.

Christian Nilssen started using cocaine during lockdown.
Christian Nilssen started using cocaine during lockdown.

A software developer took cocaine to help him redecorate after a bad night’s sleep – then drove to the shops for dog food.

Christian Nilssen had started using the drug during lockdown when struggling with his mental health.

But the 48-year-old, who hadn’t slept well prior to a planned day of DIY, discovered he still had some cocaine left over and decided to take it.

Later, after realising he was all out of dog food, he opted to drive to the shops and was pulled over on the A92 at School Wynd, Inverbervie.

‘He still had the remnants of cocaine from lockdown days’

Fiscal depute Tom Procter told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened around 5pm on September 11 last year.

Officers on patrol stopped Nilssen’s van and, concerned by his demeanour, carried out a drugs test which came back positive for a metabolite of cocaine.

Nilssen, of Burnside Cottages, Catterline, pled guilty to driving with 158 microgrammes of Benzoylecgonine, a cocaine metabolite, per litre of blood. The legal limit is 50 microgrammes.

Defence agent Gregor Kelly said it had been “some time” between his client taking the drug and driving, and that the metabolite remains in the bloodstream for longer.

He said: “During lockdown, he became somewhat depressed and sought refuge in cocaine.

“He tells me, on the day in question, he’d undertaken to do some home decorating.

“He had not slept well and found he still had the remnants of cocaine from lockdown days which, stupidly, he took.”

Mr Kelly explained Nilssen thought the drug would have left his system when he realised he’d run out of dog food for a friend’s pet he was looking after.

He said: “He decided to drive the short distance to Inverbervie and was stopped by the police.”

Sheriff Eric Brown fined Nilssen £520 and banned him from driving for a year.

For all the latest court cases in Aberdeen as well as crime and breaking incidents, join our Facebook group.