In March 2017 the United Kingdom Anti-Doping (UKAD) has reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Athlete Jamie Insall after his A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance cocaine. After notification a provisional suspension was ordered. The Athlete filed a statement in his defence and he was heard for the Sport Resolutions National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP).
The Athlete admitted the violation and stated that the use of the substance was not intentional in a social situation and out-of-competition. The Athlete provided witness evidence demonstrating that the cocaine was dissolved in bottles of beer by his friends at the party in his home in order to ingest it without his knowledge the day before the match.
UKAD accepted that the ingested cocaine by the Athlete was not intentionally consumed out-of-competition, and in a context unrelated to sporting performance as ground for a reduced sanction.
The Tribunal considers in detail the withness evidence in this case and finds that the Athlete has failed to discharge the burden on him establishing on the balance of probabilities No Fault or Negligence and No Significant Fault or Negligence on his part. Further, in fact, the Tribunal finds that the Athlete was, if he did ingest the cocaine by inadvertently picking up a contaminated bottle or bottles of beer at his party, substantially at fault for consuming the cocaine contained in such bottle or bottles.
The Tribunal rules that the Athlete’s degree of Fault was at the highest level below “Significant” as ground for a reduction of the sanction by no more than 3 months. Therefore the NADP decides on 3 October 2017 to impose a 21 month period of ineligibility on the Athlete starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. on 31 March 2017.
