Big Brother star Jade Goody‘s widower Jack Tweed was banned from driving for a year today after he told a court he took cannabis to deal with depression and anxiety.
Tweed, 39, who married Goody a month before she died of cervical cancer aged just 27 in 2009, was also fined and ordered to pay costs totalling £1,054.
The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant told magistrates that he had taken the Class B drug to help him sleep after suffering traumas in his life.
The court heard that Tweed was driving his VW Golf on December 6 last year when he was stopped by police in an unmarked car in Three Mile Hill, Writtle, near Chelmsford, Essex.
A police officer ‘established that cannabis may have been present in the vehicle’ and Tweed may have been driving under the influence of the drug, said prosecutor Rebecca Debenham.
The test revealed that he had the equivalent of 5.6mcgs of Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – the active component of cannabis – in one litre of blood.
Ms Debenham said the amount was nearly three times the legal limit of 2mcgs.
She said that Tweed had pleaded guilty to the offence at the first opportunity and had seven previous convictions for 14 offences.
Big Brother star Jade Goody met Jack Tweed in 2005 after the end of her relationship with TV presenter Jeff Brazier, the father of her two sons Bobby and Freddy
The offences included driving with excess alcohol in 2007, she said.
Tweed of Buckhurst Hill, Essex, admitted driving with a proportion of the drug in his system above the legal limit.
Ms Debenham said his offence was in the lower level of culpability with a disqualification range between the statutory 12 months and up to 16 months.
Tweed, who was wearing a black zipped short sleeve top, spoke to confirm his name, address and date of birth in the glass-fronted dock.
He represented himself without a solicitor, and told the court: ‘First of all, I would like to apologise. I am not making excuses.
‘I have been through some trauma in my life and other stuff which led to me having depression and anxiety and other things.
‘I really can’t sleep at night, so I find that having a little bit of that helps me sleep throughout the night.
‘Since I got pulled over, I have been working on myself, and I have found other ways of helping get through situations like sleeping which doesn’t involve drugs.
Tweed, 39, who married Goody a month in 2009, admitted driving with cannabis in his system above the legal limit.
‘I have been taking steps to try and move forward in my life now.
‘I work as an electrician. I know I will get a ban but it’s quite essential that I drive to keep my life going in a forward motion.
‘I believe that if I got a ban, I will be going backwards. I apologise.’
Tweed said that he earned around £3,000 a month from his work as a self-employed electrician.
He confirmed that he had rent to pay but no children and no significant debts.
Magistrates asked him if anything specific had happened to him on December 6 to lead to him taking cannabis.
He replied: ‘I didn’t have some that day. I had some the night before. It was a stupid decision. I drove in the morning when I should not have done.’
Presiding magistrate Andrew McGregor said: ‘We first heard from the Crown who gave us brief details, then we heard from yourself.
The couple appeared on Celebrity Big Brother with Goody’s mother Jackiey Budden in 2007
‘We have also heard about your anxiety and depression, and your role as an electrician, and we have been given an idea about your means.
‘As you have heard, there is a statutory disqualification for having a proportion of a controlled drug. We are going to be disqualifying you from driving for 12 months.
‘It means you cannot drive any vehicle on any road until the end of your disqualification. If you drive when disqualified you will commit a serious offence, and you may be sent to custody or disqualified again.’
Tweed was also fined £692 and ordered to pay a £277 surcharge and £85 costs.
Responding to his punishment, he told the court: ‘OK, thank you.’
Tweed refused to comment after hearing other than telling a reporter: ‘You only report on me when things go wrong.’
Big Brother star Jade met Tweed in 2005 after the end of her relationship with TV presenter Jeff Brazier, the father of her two sons Bobby and Freddy.
Tweed appeared on Celebrity Big Brother with Jade and her mum Jackiey Budden in 2007.
The couple married a month before Goody’s death from cervical cancer aged 27.
They briefly split in 2008 before Jade joined Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Celebrity Big Brother.
The couple married in February 2009 at Down Hall country house in Hatfield Heath, Essex, after Tweed proposed by the River Thames.
The ceremony was just a month before Jade’s death from cervical cancer aged 27.
Tweed — who went on to feature in ITV reality show The Only Way Is Essex — reportedly became estranged from her sons for some time following her death
But he reconnected with them several years ago and they are believed to have had a good relationship ever since.
He remains dedicated to his late wife, often sharing old photographs of the pair together on Instagram and fundraising for cancer charities in her memory.
Her public battle with the disease prompted hundreds of thousands of calls to Cancer Research UK and she was credited with boosting awareness of the condition.
Tweed has twice been jailed in the past for offences of violence.
He was jailed for 18 months at Chelmsford Crown Court in September 2008 for assaulting a 16-year-old boy with a golf club, causing actual bodily harm in Chipping Ongar, Essex.
Tweed was jailed for a further 12 weeks by magistrates in Harlow, Essex, for assaulting a taxi driver.
He was also ordered to pay costs of £455 and £200 compensation to the driver.
