A WOMAN caught drug-driving burst into tears as she told cops she had smoked weed EIGHT DAYS before her arrest.
Amira Shaid, 27, failed a roadside drugs test during a routine stop as she drove her Ford Fiesta through Warrington town centre in Cheshire.
During the February 25 arrest, Shaid broke down as tests showed she had 2.5 micrograms of psychoactive substance THC in a litre of blood – 0.5 over the legal limit.
The newly qualified microbiologist later said she had no idea she would be over the limit, insisting the cannabis must have still been in her system from a party she attended more than a week earlier.
The first class honours graduate now faces the sack from her new job at a company which carries out routine drug testing on staff.
Miss Sarah McInerny, prosecuting, said cops thought the strong smell of perfume in Shaid's car "may have been used to cover the smell of cannabis".
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Shaid told an officer she had smoked dope on February 17 before agreeing to a roadside DrugWipe, which was positive for the drug.
After her arrest, Shaid underwent a blood test in custody, revealing she was over the drug drive limit.
Warrington Magistrates Court heard Shaid had been stopped on suspicion of drug driving on an earlier occasion but no action was taken against her.
In mitigation defence solicitor James Fisher said the graduate had been "devastated" by her arrest and feared for her career.
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He added: "There is no evidence of dangerous or erratic driving. She was just pulled over.
"She was in tears at the roadside and at the station.
“As she said to the officers, quite frankly she did not expect to be over the limit."
JP Ian Williams told her: “I appreciate that this has a sobering effect on anybody coming to court for the first time.
“But you have to accept that driving with drugs in your system is a serious offence and there is a mandatory ban."
Shaid, from Widnes, Cheshire, was disqualified from driving for 12 months after admitting drug-driving.
She was also fined £438 and ordered to pay £294 in costs and a victim surcharge.
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