Paramedic cleared of drink-driving charge

Man’s wife verifies his claim he really was sleeping – and would never drink and drive

A paramedic hugged his wife outside court after she turned up to save him from being sacked from his job.

Lee Northcott, 43, from Perth was found drunk at the wheel of his car after his wife locked him out for breaching her midnight curfew.

Perth Sheriff Court was told he was “not a man to be trusted” and the sheriff told him “you may not be the best husband or father.”

Northcott – who previously admitted stalking another woman – said his wife had forced him to sleep in his car because he was four hours late getting home.

He said: “I had been on a night out with friends and had made an agreement to be home by midnight, but through my own stupidity I decided to stay out longer.

“By the time I got home it was about 4am and my wife had locked the doors, and rightly so was very angry at me and refused to let me in the house.”

Northcott was cleared of being drunk in charge of his car, thanks to wife Jamie Lee Northcott, 34, turning up to give evidence in support of her wayward husband.

Sheriff William Wood said: “I accept the Crown’s contention up to a point that you may not be the best husband or father, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I can’t trust you when you say there was little likelihood of you driving.

“You say you have an abhorrence of drink-drivers and the particularly helpful evidence given by your wife is consistent to your own approach to drink-drivers.”

Sheriff Wood found Northcott – who was four times the limit in his parked car – not guilty due to there being no likelihood of him driving while he was over the limit.

Northcott told the trial: “I had been banging on the doors and windows to get in. It was clear she wasn’t going to let me in. My wife threw the car keys out.

“I went to the car to get some sleep. I have dealt with the aftermath of drinkdrivers in my job for the last 21 years.”

He told the trial he had downed “a multitude of drinks” during the evening and had ignored more than 10 calls from his wife after flouting his curfew.

He said he spent several hours in a police station before being freed.

She said: “I just told him to go and sleep in his car as he wasn’t getting in. I wanted him home for midnight.”

Depute fiscal Tina Dickie told the court: “I would suggest to the court this is a man who cannot be trusted.”

Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said: “Because of the nature of the work he does, he has very strong views on drinking and driving.”

Northcott was fined earlier this year for breaking a court order to stay away from the nurse he had been stalking, by delivering a watch through her letterbox.

He was banned from going near her for six months.

I had been on a night out with friends and had made an agreement to be home by midnight, but through my own stupidity I decided to stay out longer. LEE NORTHCOTT

Lee Northcott hugs his wife Jamie Lee as they leave Perth Sheriff Court where he faced drink-driving charges.