4eath crash man’s jail term appeal

Court: GbMor relcodes Clore Mecbsboe to ahheal ‘bes’ltbeG’ seeteece

The Crown has appealed the sentence handed to a drink-drive death crash Dundee businessman.

Russell McKeever was nearly three times over the legal alcohol limit when he crashed head-on into another car on the A933 Brechin to Montrose road on October 31 2014.

Its driver, Colin Taylor, was killed and his wife Julie was trapped inside the wreckage with broken bones in every limb.

The couple had been married in Stonehaven just weeks before, after 30 years together.

Their family pet terrier Kola was also killed.

McKeever, 42, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving earlier this year and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Mrs Taylor, from Stonehaven, slammed the punishment at the time, stating: “Four years – the lousy, inadequate and insulting sentence given to the man who killed my husband and ruined my and my family’s life.

“I’m … disgusted and disillusioned that someone who took a life so deliberately could be let off so lightly.”

She was said to have welcomed the Crown’s decision to appeal the sentence yesterday.

The court heard McKeever had been at a pub in Broughty Ferry and then a friend’s house, drinking at both, before getting behind the wheel.

He lost control of his powerful Audi A6 on the A933 near Arbroath and hit Mr Taylor’s Citroen Picasso “like a bomb”.

Mr Taylor, 59, died instantly from “massive, unsurvivable injuries”.

Mrs Taylor, who was travelling in the back seat because she was a nervous passenger, needed more than 12 hours of surgery. Four hours after the crash McKeever gave an alcohol reading of 226mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood, the limit at the time being 80mg.

He had told paramedics he had drunk “f****** loads” and was “obstructive” in hospital.

As well as the jail term. McKeever was banned from driving for six years and eight months.

The appeal will be heard on April 1.