Big Brother star Jade Goody’s widower Jack Tweed has been banned from driving after admitting being behind the wheel under the influence of cannabis.
Tweed, 39, entered a guilty plea at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Monday to one charge of driving a motor vehicle with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit.
The court heard that Tweed, who appeared on Celebrity Big Brother UK in 2007, was arrested on Three Mile Hill, near Chelmsford, Essex, while driving his Volkswagen Golf on December 6 last year.
Prosecutor Rebecca Debenham said Tweed, of Buckhurst Hill, Essex, was stopped by police and “officers believed cannabis may have been present in the vehicle and Tweed may have been driving under the influence of that cannabis”.
Tweed failed a roadside drug swipe and was taken to a police station for a blood sample which recorded 5.6 micrograms of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol – the main active component of cannabis – in his system, exceeding the limit of two micrograms.
The court gave Tweed a fine of £692 and ordered him to pay a surcharge of £277, as well as costs of £85.
Tweed, the former partner of Ms Goody, who died aged 27 of cervical cancer weeks after the couple got married in 2009, told the court: “I’m not making excuses, I’ve been through some trauma in my life, other stuff that led to me having depression and anxiety.
“I can’t sleep at night, I’d found having a little bit of that helps me sleep through the night and that’s what I was doing.
“I had some the night before to help me sleep again… stupid decision, I drove in the morning when I shouldn’t have.”
Wearing a black top, Tweed said he now works as an electrician, adding that his income varies and is “maybe £3,000 a month”.
He added: “I’ve been working on myself, I’ve found other things to help myself get through situations and sleeping that doesn’t involve drugs.
“I do work to keep my life in the forward motion – if I get banned it’s just going to go backwards.
“I apologise, I’m sorry.”
The court was told Tweed has seven previous convictions for 14 offences, including a conviction in 2007 for driving with excess alcohol.
Magistrate Andrew McGregor said Tweed would receive a statutory disqualification from driving of 12 months.
He told Tweed: “You cannot drive any motor vehicle on any roads used by the public from this until the end of your disqualification.
“Your current photocard licence is no longer valid. You must apply to the DVLA for a new photocard licence.”
