Teacher six times drink-drive limit outside her school
A TEACHER who was six times the limit in the car park of the school where she works – her second drink-driving offence – has escaped jail.
Kristine Gillespie claimed she turned to alcohol to cope with her cancer-stricken husband leaving her after 26 years.
It was her husband John who phoned police after realising she was drunk and warning her not to drive off from the car park at Belmont Academy in Ayr on September 7.
The 52-year-old home economics teacher told police and social workers she had had only one bottle of Peroni Italian beer with her lunch that day. But she was six times over the limit.
The details emerged yesterday when Gillespie appeared for sentencing at Ayr Sheriff Court. She had earlier pleaded guilty to driving with 132 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 22mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath.
Procurator fiscal depute Jacob Tomnay told Sheriff Mhairi Mactaggart that Gillespie, who is suspended on full pay, had split from her husband at the time of the offence. He added: ‘On the day of the offence he attended the marital home around midday. He was unable to let himself in.
‘They have a Nissan car and it was not in the driveway. Mrs Gillespie attended at the front door and was under the influence of alcohol. He left in a separate car and tried to locate the Nissan.’
Mr Gillespie went to her work and saw her approaching the car in the school car park.
Mr Tomnay said: ‘He observes Mrs Gillespie access the Nissan, enter it and start the engine.
‘He appears and states that if she drives off he would phone the police. Mrs Gillespie then drove off and Mr Gillespie then contacted the police.’ Officers caught up with her shortly after and she failed a breath test.
Defence solicitor Jill Molloy said Gillespie had been struggling with her private life, adding: ‘At the time of the offence she and her husband had recently separated. They discovered he was suffering from cancer at the end of August.
‘He decided he was going to move out of the marital home and take one of their children with him, without her knowing that this was happening.
‘There is a significant alcohol problem here and she was using alcohol to try to cope.’
Sheriff MacTaggart said she could have jailed Gillespie for her second drink-driving offence but instead imposed a community payback order and banned her from driving for three years.