An ex-veteran who completed two tours in Afghanistan and spent time in Ukraine was caught drug-driving in Worksop. Allan Hallbert, 33, of Kilton Road, Worksop, was seen in a car driving at speed and swerving in the road at 11pm on May 7.
When police in a marked car stopped Hallbert, he had red eyes and his speech was slurred, Nottingham Crown Court was told on Tuesday, March 22. A test for alcohol was negative but a drugs test was positive for cannabis. He pleaded guilty at court to drug-driving.
Hallbert had previous convictions for drug-driving and possessing cannabis and the new offence put him in breach of a suspended prison sentence. Julia King, mitigating, said Hallbert, who recently lost his job as a welder on the railways, had been using cannabis for some time.
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Hallbert had been struggling since 2016 to keep his life generally on an even keel. He left the Army where he was in infantry and did two tours of Afghanistan and spent time in Ukraine, said Miss King.
The reason he left was because his dad was diagnosed with cancer. Then Hallbert, a father-of-four, struggled to deal with that period of his life in the Army and suffered from depression and anxiety and had counselling.
"He feels he has not properly adapted outside the Army," added Miss King. "He has used cannabis as a maladapted way of coping". He is now involved with Project Nova, an organisation which supports veterans who have been arrested or are at risk of arrest.
Hallbert, who is now banned from driving, has also been referred to "Operation Courage" which was launched by the NHS in March last year and is a mental health service for veterans.
In June 2021 the defendant volunteered at a food bank, where he was driving and dropping off food for people, and "found it really rewarding", said Miss King.
Over the last seven weeks he worked at Wilko's warehouse. He is no longer using cannabis.
Judge Mark Watson deferred sentencing for four months to July 19, with conditions he cooperate with any referral to any agency made by Project Nova. In the first instance, the judge said that referral seemed to be "Change Grow Live", a voluntary sector organisation specialising in substance misuse and criminal justice intervention projects in England and Wales.
"I am to see drug-free tests as part of the Change Grow Live or whatever programme you are accepted on," Judge Watson told him in the dock. "And I want evidence of this; drug-free tests before the next occasion. You are to maintain the employment you have found, If you comply with those conditions, then I won't send you to prison immediately."
