A judge criticised the Crown Prosecution Service for failing to disclose key pieces of evidence.

District Judge Kamlesh Rana heard that prosecution lawyers had only served alleged drug driver Joseph Beach’s legal team with an expert's report four days before his trial on Thursday.

However, she added that the 23-year-old’s lawyers were not blameless, as they should have been quicker to alert the court to the prosecution’s failure to disclose evidence.

The judge refused an application by prosecutor Richard Atkins for the trial to be adjourned. The adjournment would have allowed the defence to instruct their own expert.

After the judge ruled that the late report was inadmissible and could not be used in the trial, the prosecutor offered no evidence.

Dismissing the case, District Judge Rana said: “I’d like the message to go back, Mr Atkins, if I make directions and they’re not complied with there won’t be any leeway.”

Beach, of Tamar Crescent, Bicester, was alleged to have been more than one-and-a-half times the cannabis drug driving limit when he was stopped behind the wheel of a Vauxhall Corsa in Piddington, near Bicester, on January 12.

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