A MOTORIST stopped by police at St Dogmaels was found to have a knife in his car and was driving with traces of three drugs in his system, magistrates have heard.

William Luke Evans, 26, pleaded guilty to charges of drug driving, possession of a knife and possession of cannabis after his car was stopped on 9 July.

Magistrates heard that Evans had traces of drugs in his system which showed that he had used cocaine, cannabis and MDMA, with levels of the drugs or compounds of the drugs in his blood over specified limits.

Prosecutor Rhian Jones said police were initially called at around 9am by a member of the public who had seen Evans and several of his friends stood by Evans’s Fiesta and thought they “looked suspicious”.

After giving the police details of the car, an officer saw the car driving past in the direction of Cardigan and followed, eventually stopping the car at St Dogmaels.

The officer spoke to Evans, of 30 Wallace Street in Fishguard, and noticed the smell of cannabis. When Evans opened the door, the officer saw a bag containing cannabis and also a folding knife in the car, which Evans said he used for fishing. Evans was asked to take a roadside breath test, which proved negative, but a saliva test showed Evans had cocaine and cannabis in his system. A blood test found that there were levels of drugs in Evans’s system above the specified limit.

In an interview Evans said he had been drinking the night before and had taken cocaine. He said he had also used cannabis and MDMA and had been travelling with friends to Cardigan where they were going to carry on drinking, telling police that deciding to drive his car was “a bad decision”.

He told police that the knife had been a gift from his ex-girlfriend’s father which he thought he had lost, but that after finding it had it in the car until he could put it in his fishing box.

Evans, who represented himself in court, said that he did not usually have knives with him, but after finding the fishing knife he had kept it in the car until he could return it to his fishing box.

He told magistrates that he accepted he had been driving with drugs over the specified limit and realised he would be subject to a driving ban.

Evans, a labourer for a scaffolder, was banned from driving for a year. He was fined £600 and will pay £145.