Former athlete gets 3 months

A promising athlete who descended into “a spiral of addiction” after a car accident was jailed for three months last week.

Linda Clark, 48, who lived in Maybole, appeared in the dock at Ayr Sheriff Court on Thursday morning on three charges of fraud, theft and failing to appear for a previous court appearance.

The court heard how she had once represented her country before the accident in 1999 sent her on a downward spiral ending in her losing everything.

Her defence agent Ian Gillies said: “This is a very sad case. This lady, up until she was 47, had committed no offences whatsoever.

“She was injured in a road traffic accident in 1999, where she suffered a bad head injury.

“She was prescribed very strong painkillers and she became addicted. She lost her husband and her children because she descended into a spiral of addiction to these prescription painkillers.

“Before she descended into this spiral she was responsible for over seven shops in the Glasgow area, and was once capped for Scotland in both netball and bowls. She doesn’t drink at all but she became hooked on painkillers and descended into using street valium and some heroin.”

The court also heard how her mother “doesn’t recognise her daughter any more” but has offered to take her daughter into her home.

Clark pled guilty to fraudulently collecting £ 217.30 in various streets in Maybole, claiming she was raising funds for The Carrick Centre in Maybole, and stealing a wallet containing £ 60 from an address in the town.

She also pled guilty to failing to appear at Ayr Sheriff Court on February 3 this year having been granted bail on October 22, 2015.

Sheriff Desmond Leslie imposed a three month prison sentence for the third charge, backdated to May 5, on Clark after Gilles told him his client would benefit from a “short, sharp shock.”

Clark waved at family members sitting in the public gallery as she was led to the cells to complete her sentence.

Sentencing for the theft and fraud charges were continued until a review of a Community Payback Order imposed in December on June 21 this year.