Footballer's jail term cut

Published 7 Apr 2010 14:00

A junior footballer who was given a jail term for drink driving at almost four times the limit has had his sentence reduced.

Harry McLachlan, 30, was originally sentenced to four months' imprisonment by a sheriff, but released ahead of an appeal.

On Wednesday judges at the Justiciary Appeal Court in Edinburgh ruled that Sheriff William Dunlop was entitled to decide only a custodial sentence was appropriate, but reduced the jail term to two months.

Larkhall Thistle player McLachlan, of Broom Drive, Parkhall, was convicted of drink driving and careless driving when he appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court in November last year.

The former Greenock Juniors footballer admitted driving with 132 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - the limit is 35 micrograms of alcohol - at Dumbarton Road, in Clydebank, on October 5 last year.

He had been on a 12-hour boozing bender with pals in Old Kilpatrick, when he decided to head back to Clydebank at around midnight.

He got in his car, but soon crashed into a black Honda Civic and then careered through a boundary wall, writing off his motor.

Defending, Chris Shead argued that it was uncommon for a jail sentence to be imposed for a first drink driving offence, even when the reading was as high and argued that it could be dealt with by a non-custodial disposal.

The appeal judges said the sheriff took the view that the level of alcohol meant it was not a miscalculation or "error of judgement" on McLachlan's part, but that he had consciously driven his vehicle after drinking a considerable amount of alcohol and there was real danger to the public.

Lord Eassie said: "We have come to the conclusion this was a case where the circumstances of the offence were such that the sheriff was entitled to take the view that a custodial sentence was the only proper course."

But the judge said that the sheriff had chosen the maximum sentence on the drink driving offence before discounting it following McLachlan's guilty plea and they considered the sheriff was in error to do so and would impose a lesser jail term.

McLachlan was also banned from driving for three years.

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This article appeared in Clydebank Post 07 Apr 10

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