AN ORANGE woman already serving a gaol sentence for recklessly driving a stolen car she crashed into a tree had been driving under the influence of prohibited drugs.

The defendant Leigh Clarke, 30, had been convicted on serious driving charges before police obtained a forensic report that led to Clarke pleading guilty at the Bathurst Court House to driving under the influence of drugs about 1pm on Thursday November 8 last year in Orange.

Magistrate Thomas Hodgson convicted and sentenced Clarke to four months’ gaol to be served concurrently and disqualified her from driving or holding a licence for an additional two years, expiring on February 28, 2015.

Analytical reports revealed Clarke had been driving with amphetamine, methamphetamine, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and delta-9-THC acid in her system.

Police related in a statement of facts how a motor vehicle had been taken from K-Mart car park before police patrols sighted the car spinning rear wheels exit from Nyrang Road to Leura Road.

They had lost sight of the vehicle but came across it again, a short time later. As police approached Clarke she reversed the car harshly at 40-60km/h with police giving chase on foot, as the car hit a tree on the eastern kerb of the road.

Clarke had climbed through a passenger front window of the car, running to Garema Road where police again lost sight of her. However, shortly after police came across Clarke walking up Garema Road with a laceration to the left hand and ear when she was taken to hospital.

The Bathurst court heard how Clarke, who was in custody in the dock, had been gaoled in Orange over taking and driving a motor vehicle, driving recklessly/furiously in a manner dangerous to the public when disqualified until March 1, 2013.

Her four months concurrent sentence handed down in Bathurst was to expire on October 22, 2008.

But her period of disqualification was extended beyond March 2013 to expire on a new date of February 28, 2015.