A MUM was found with eight times the legal level of cannabis in her blood when stopped by police on the school run.

Belinda Matthias claimed she takes the drug in oil form to ease the pain caused by severe arthritis and had no idea she was breaking the law.

Magistrates heard a police officer was drawn to the 50-year-old’s Volkswagen Passat on the A438 near Castlemorton because it was uninsured.

Matthias claimed this was unintentional, as she had been online the previous month using a friend’s computer and believed she had renewed her insurance, according to Sarah Brady, defending.

Ms Brady described it as “an isolated incident” and said her client had lost her good name by appearing in court as she had no previous convictions.

Nicola Ritchie, prosecuting, said PC Waterhouse pulled over the defendant at around 2.30pm on March 1 and “could smell cannabis” so gave her a drugs test, which she failed.

At the station, Matthias was found to have 16 micrograms of the controlled drug per litre of blood, with the legal limit 2µg/L.

The court heard, she had been on the way to pick up her children from school, who are nine and 14 years of age.

Ms Brady said her client has been driving for 30 years and never knowingly without insurance, and “there was nothing untoward with the driving” on the day.

She said Matthias, of Rye Street, Birtsmorton, had gone to a friend’s in Upton on February 10 to renew the insurance, which was due to run out on February 14.

After setting up her policy, she saw she had received an email from comparethemarket.com and misunderstood this to be a confirmation, when it was actually just a welcome message from the comparison site.

Matthias’ arthritis is “particularly bad” in her right knee, “which is deformed” because of it, added Ms Brady.

The defendant, who works part-time at a school, was fined £94 for both offences and banned from driving for 12 months when appearing in court last Thursday (June 6).