The sentencing of a banned driver at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court was interrupted when he swallowed a “large white pill” while standing in the dock.

Magistrates at the city’s Rickergate courts complex were sentencing 46-year-old Michael John Shepherd when the disturbing incident prompted them to temporarily halt the hearing so that he could be taken for an urgent medical check.

Shepherd, of Highfield Court, Wigton, had admitted driving while disqualified and careless driving, which involved him driving along a pavement in Currock and then crashing into a police car.

Magistrates chairwoman Marcia Reid Fotheringham was telling the defendant that a pedestrian could easily have been killed when she and her colleagues saw him pop a white pill into his mouth and then take a sip of water.

Mrs Reid Fotheringham told the dock officers in court that Shepherd should be taken for urgent medical attention.

“We can’t ignore that,” she said as the other two magistrates in court confirmed that they too saw the pill being swallowed.

Earlier, prosecutor Pam Ward had described how police began following the defendant after they saw him driving a Vauxhall Astra in Jane Street, Carlisle, on October 20. They knew that he had been given a driving ban in January of this year.

Keith Thomas, for Shepherd, said his client had no intention of driving that day, having been driven to the Dunelm store in Charlotte Street by his girlfriend. But they had argued and she had stormed off, leaving him “stranded” in the car, said the barrister.

Mr Thomas said: “He reckoned that the only thing to do was to drive himself home. He’d been with his girlfriend for five years. That relationship is now over.”

On that very day, said Mr Thomas, Shepherd’s landlord served him with notice that he would have to quit his flat.

“He was in a bad place,” said Mr Thomas. The barrister outlined that the defendant also suffers health problems, which include diabetes. He drove off when he saw the police because he panicked, he said.

He was also concerned about custody because he supported his mother.

With Mr Shepherd having been taken away for a medical check, magistrates resumed the sentencing exercise. They jailed Shepherd for nine weeks.

Shepherd also admitted uninsured driving and failing to stop when required to do so by a police officer.