WITH his 18-month-old child in the front seat of his BMW car, a drug-driver — who drove erratically — was chased by police on a busy Isle of Wight road.

Cameron Goodman-Wright, of Prince Street, Ryde, admitted drug-driving, and failing to stop when a police officer directed him to do so, on June 11.

At 11.30am that day, police in an unmarked car on Brading Road, heading towards Tesco, noticed Goodman-Wright driving erratically in the opposite direction, U-turned and followed him — signalling for him to stop.

When Goodman-Wright reacted by accelerating away, police activated their lights — but he contiinued to drive on, said Lauren Stone, prosecuting, at the Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court.

At Westridge Garage, Goodman-Wright pulled in briefly, but as the police approached, he drove on "at speed" along Smallbrook Lane, and was chased until he eventually pulled over.

Police found a toddler strapped into the front passenger seat and there was a strong smell of cannabis in the car.

Goodman-Wright failed a roadside drugs test for cannabis and was arrested.

At Newport Police Station, he provided a reading of 4.1ug/L of the cannabis metabolite THC. The legal limit is 2.

In 2020, Goodman-Wright was banned from driving for two years as a 'totter' having built up penalty points.

Miss Stone told the bench Goodman-Wright's offending was aggravated by the fact he was evading the police, there was bad driving and, most seriously, had a child passenger.

Magistrates said another aggravating factor was the time of day.

For Goodman-Wright, Michael McGoldrick said his client accepted he had his 18-month-old child in the front of his car, but did not accept the police were signalling for him to stop, claiming he stopped at Westridge to allow the police to pass, not realising they were chasing him. 

Goodman-Wright also contradicted the police's version by claiming he drove at 20mph along Smallbrook Lane, rather than "at speed", said Mr McGoldrick.

Magistrates ordered a probation report, prior to sentencing on November 3.

Goodman-Wright was handed an interim driving ban.