A HARROWBARROW man has received a suspended jail sentence and been ordered to do 120 hours of community work for possessing Class A and B drugs and driving offences.

Plymouth Crown Court heard last Friday that banned driver James Richardson, 27, was stopped by police for the second time in less than a year and drugs worth £900 found in his car.

Police found a rucksack containing 341g of cannabis and 31.62g of cocaine. The defendant denied all knowledge of the rucksack or drugs until police found his fingerprint on an inner bag, the court was told.

Richardson pleaded guilty to the possession of the drugs, driving while disqualified and driving while uninsured.

Prosecutor Alistair Verheijen said Richardson was originally banned by Swindon magistrates in his absence last November, but was homeless at the time and unaware of the conviction.

He was stopped by police last December and informed of the ban. But on May 23 — six days before the one-year ban was due to expire — he was stopped again in Plymouth and arrested. He told police he believed the car was insured and that his ban had expired.

Paul Bitmead, defending, said Richardson was a man whose life had gone off the rails at the time including the break-up of his relationship. He no longer took drugs and was a senior IT consultant and a very important member of his firm, he said.

Judge Francis Gilbert QC said the onus was on Mr Richardson to find out when his ban expired. He said uninsured drivers placed a 'considerable burden' on law-abiding motorists whose premiums had to be higher to cover uninsured losses. He sentenced Mr Richardson to three months in jail suspended for two years, docked him six penalty points which resulted in another one-year driving ban and ordered him to do 120 hours of unpaid community work.