Former Republic of Ireland footballer Anthony Stokes was caught with almost €4,000 worth of cocaine in his car after leading gardaí on a high-speed car chase in Dublin, a court has heard.
The ex-Celtic and Sunderland player hit 160kph and nearly collided with another motorist shortly after midnight on January 6, 2023. Judge Gráinne Malone adjourned sentencing of Stokes, 36, for a treatment report to confirm that he is off drugs.
He pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to unlawful possession of cocaine which was hidden in a sock, and having the drug for sale or supply.
The judge heard how his drink issues spiralled into cocaine addiction when his football career ended. Stokes admitted driving while over the alcohol limit and four counts of dangerous driving.
The former Premier League star has also pleaded guilty to not producing a driving licence and not having motor insurance.
In evidence, Garda Radoslaw Konczewski recalled observing Stokes’s car speeding on Walkinstown Avenue at around 12.20am. Stokes failed to stop and continued to the Long Mile Road junction ‘at speed, breaking a red light’.
Stokes drove to the Naas Road and broke another red light and continued to Ballyfermot Road, breaking two pedestrian red lights and one at a junction.
The father-of-three then continued to Kennelsfort Road Upper, broke a red light, and ‘almost collided with a car on the Chapelizod bypass’.
The accused, who had a passenger in the car, stopped at the closed gates of Phoenix Park. He abandoned the car but was caught after a short foot pursuit.
Gardaí found €3,700 worth of cocaine in wraps, inside a sock with Stokes’s DNA, in an air vent. A urine sample found he had 59mg of alcohol per 100ml of urine.
