A man caught on CCTV sniffing cocaine outside a pub was found to have a knife in his Mercedes.

Not only was Charlie Atkin spotted taking the class A drug outside Deal’s Walmer Castle he was also caught showing a friend a “white substance” before driving off in his C220.

The 34-year-old was later arrested after police used blue lights and sirens to pull him over when they spotted him behind the wheel in The Strand.

And when they searched him and his vehicle, they found a lock knife inside the car as well as several cocaine deals in his pocket.

Atkin, of Mill Hill, Deal, was later charged with possession of cocaine, possession of a bladed article, drink driving and drug driving.

He admitted the offences when he appeared before magistrates in Folkestone on September 13.

Sidumiso Moyo, prosecuting, said: “It was just after midnight and council cameras saw him sniff some white powder and thought it was suspicious and operators suspected he was taking drugs and police were called.”

However, when officers located his car nearby it was empty.

They could see no sign of Atkin so officers told council CCTV operators to give them another call if he returned to the area.

Ms Moyo told the court he did return to the area and was again spotted acting suspiciously by the council camera operators.

She added: “He was then seen with a white substance in his hand and was showing a friend and then returned to his car and drove off.

“Then police officers saw him driving and he made some poor manoeuvres and they decided to pull him over because of the manner of his driving and they used the lights and sirens to stop him.

“He had some cocaine in his pocket and told the officers he had just bought it and there were another six packs of white powder in his jean’s pocket and a sum of money.

“He was given a roadside saliva test which proved positive for controlled drug and there was a female passenger in his vehicle, but nothing was found on her.

“There was also a knife found in the vehicle in the centre console and it had a lock mechanism which activated the blade extension.”

Magistrates also heard in total he was found with 3.51 grams of cocaine and when given a breath test, that proved positive too and he was in fact over the legal drink-drive limit.

Atkin gave a reading drink-drive reading of 45 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, the legal limit is 35.

Magistrates were also told when his blood was tested he was found to have 78 micrograms of Benzoylecgonine (a cocaine by-product) per 100millilitress of blood in his system, the legal limit is 50.

The bench also heard Atkin had previously been banned from driving in 2009 for drink driving, so was looking at a three-year ban because he had now been convicted of the offence twice within a 10-year period.

Maggie Biglou mitigating asked the court for an adjournment so Atkin could have a pre-sentencing report carried out on him to find out more about him before he was sentenced.

Magistrates agreed but said they were looking at all options as the offences were so serious.

Atkin was placed on an interim driving ban until then and bailed until he learns his fate at Margate Magistrates’ Court on the morning of October 15.