Rugby league player Thomas Minns, then of Hull Kingston Rovers RFC, has been suspended from all sport for a period of 16 months, after testing positive for cocaine.
The test showed the presence of the prohibited substance benzoylecgonine - a metabolite of cocaine - with his ban starting on the date of the sample collection on 15 March 2018. He was later released by the Super League club in July.
Minns admitted taking the drug and said it came at a time shortly after his mother had died. He is currently without a club and free to return on 14 July 2019.
UK Anti Doping's chief executive Nicole Sapstead commented, "All athletes must adhere to the principle of strict liability, regardless of whether or not they are deliberately seeking to gain an unfair sporting advantage.”
