STOPPED by the police and asked to produce his driving licence, a Chard man opened his wallet and accidentally let the officers see a wrap of white powder inside.

Samuel Joe McCaffery was further searched and found to have a number of other similar wraps in his possession which were later found to be cocaine and ketamine.

When he appeared before Somerset Magistrates at Yeovil they were told the self-confessed “ketamine addict” had been “in between” two suspended prison sentences when he committed the offence so was not in breach of any orders.

McCaffery, 31, of Chard Junction, pleaded guilty to being in possession of 1.63g of cocaine (class A) and a quantity of ketamine (class B) at Yeovil on May 5 last year.

Emma Lenanton, prosecuting, said the police were on patrol in Lysander Road in Yeovil when they pulled over the driver of a Honda vehicle after being concerned about the manner in which it was being driven.

“The defendant confirmed his identity and when they asked to see his driving licence he went into his wallet and the officer saw a clear bag of white dust inside it,” she said.

“A further search of the defendant revealed more small packs of powder and he was then arrested and taken to Bridgwater police station.”

A total of 1.63g of cocaine was seized along with 1.095g of ketamine.

Defending, Thomas Faulkner said that McCaffery was desperate to get his life back on track and accepted he had the drugs for his personal use.

“He says he is a ketamine addict and had a long standing habit for several years and did not realise that some of the powder he had at the time was cocaine,” he said.

“His suspended sentence order is going well and he realises now that his life is nearly running out of control ad these drugs are ruining his life.

“He has at last accepted he has a ketamine problem and when he was using it he could not see the effect these offences were having on his own and his family’s lives.

“Shortly after these offences were committed a doctor told him he needed surgery due to the effects of this drug and that was a huge wake-up call for him.”

He said that McCaffery was now attending meetings of Narcotic Anonymous, providing clean drug screens and was now “a different man”.

He realises that if he carries on using drugs then things will only get worse ad he realises what he did was shameful and stupid,” added Mr Faulkner.

The magistrates fined the defendant a total of £333 for the two drug offences and ordered him to pay £85 costs and a £33 victim surcharge. They also made a destruction order for the substances seized by the police.