Craig Kirkby was jailed at Swansea Crown Court
A SWANSEA man high on drugs drove a car on the wrong side of a busy street before crashing into parked vehicles and a wall just yards from university buildings, a court heard.
Craig Anthony Kirkby tried to reverse away from the crash before getting out of the car and being pinned to the floor by passersby until police arrived — in the form of mounted officers.
Kirkby had been on bail at the time of the offence having been arrested two weeks earlier when police raided his house and found drugs and a homemade pipe fashioned from a Coca-Cola can.
Kirkby, of Gwynedd Avenue, Townhill, pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing drugs, two counts of possessing drugs with intent to supply, driving while unfit through drugs, dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice when he appeared at Swansea Crown Court.
Kirkby drove on the wrong side of the road on Mount Pleasant hill before crashing into a wall.
Brian Simpson, prosecuting, said the 44-year-old was initially arrested after police executed a search warrant at his house on December 22 last year.
As well as small quantities of cocaine, heroin and Valium, officers found drugs paraphernalia including burnt foil and a drugs pipe made from a Coca-Cola can.
He gave officers a false name — the perverting the course of justice offence — and was charged under that name and released on bail.
Then just after midday on January 6 he was seen driving his partner's Renault Laguna up Mount Pleasant hill — near the University of Wales Trinity St David campus — on the wrong side of the road, forcing an oncoming car to swerve to avoid him.
He then crashed into two parked cars and a wall, and was detained by passersby as he tried to leave the scene.
Police were called, and the first on the scene were officers on horseback.
The court heard Kirkby's pupils were "fixed" and there was white froth coming from his mouth. He gave officers the same false name he had in December.
A subsequent search of the car turned-up 31 grams of cocaine, 33 grams of heroin, and more than £1,600 in cash, along with digital weighing scales and a roll of plastic bags.
The court heard Kirkby has 25 previous convictions for 47 offences, most of them in Liverpool, including for drugs matters.
Judge Geraint Walters told Kirkby he had clearly been unfit to drive on the day in question and could easily have killed somebody.
The judge described heroin as a "hugely destructive drug" that ruins lives.
Kirkby was sentenced to a total of four years in prison, and was banned from driving for 12 months — the ban to take effect when he is released from custody. He will also have to take an extended test before he can get his licence back.
Read more at http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/drugged-driver-crashes-into-wall-near-university-and-is-arrested-by-mounted-police/story-30094776-detail/story.html#3OFw72XBXiOzBpJs.99
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