Driver’s booze case pending

regrettable and reprehensible,” added the lawyer.

“She hopes they will be able to continue the relationship which goes back many, many years to when they were effectively childhood sweethearts.”

The brother had subsequently died on June 20 this year, while McLellan was on remand at Perth Prison - and his father had also passed away in 2008, again when he was serving an earlier sentence.

Passing sentence, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said he took account that the accused’s guilty plea had spared his partner giving evidence in court.

But he also noted McLellan had eight previous convictions for crimes of violence in Scotland, four of which had been prosecuted on indictment, and five in England, some of which had also been on indictment.

“In my view, the only sentence which has to be imposed is custody.”

A woman, caught driving with excess alcohol near her home shortly after a similar conviction, told Perth Sheriff Court she has another booze case pending in November.

Fifty-four-year-old Jacqueline McPhee, of Smillie Place, Bridge of Earn, will return to Perth Sheriff Court for sentence on November 27.

She admitted that on March 6, on the Wicks of

Baiglie road, Bridge of Earn, she drove with 99 milligrammes of alcohol in her urine.

The maximum allowed is 67 milligrammes.

Sheriff William Wood noted: “There was an offence last year and one this year.

“Because of the nature of these previous convictions - it’s a second offence in a relatively short space of time - I want to obtain a background report.”

The accused then volunteered from the dock: “I have another one to come in November.”

The sheriff called for a Community Justice Social Work report, noting she had a driving ban imposed on May 13 this year for the earlier incident.

The background to the latest offence will be given before she is sentenced.