Jail for fisherman who was seven times drink drive limit

A fisherman from Barra who was seven times the drink drive limit and crashed a van in Mallaig has been jailed for six months at Fort William Sheriff Court.

John James Edward Christie, from Castlebay, appeared from custody before Sheriff Gary Aitken on Tuesday this week.

Christie, 33, had pleaded guilty that on September 17 this year in Fank Brae and Station Road in Mallaig, and other roads in between, he had driven the vehicle with a breath alcohol level of 154mgs in 100mls of breath. The legal limit is 22mgs of alcohol in 100mls of breath.

He further admitted driving without insurance on the same date and assaulting a police officer by attempting to spit on him.

His pleas of not guilty to charges involving driving away the van without the owner’s permission, damaging it and the Fish Market Restaurant in Mallaig by crashing into the latter as a result of dangerous driving, and to damaging a police vehicle by kicking it, were accepted by the Crown.

Procurator fiscal Alison Young told the court the vehicle involved had been a works van, which had been parked in Fank Brae on the day in question.

‘The accused and a friend had been drinking and, after an argument, he had driven away in the van at about 5.10pm,’ Mrs Young told the court.

‘Not surprisingly, he crashed a short distance away [at the restaurant] and, as there were other people nearby at the time, the police were contacted.’

Christie was breathalysed at 5.45pm and it was while at the local police station at about 8pm that he had spat at an officer, although this had failed to make contact.

Christie’s defence agent said his client recognised his behaviour was inexcusable and that he had admitted his guilt at the first opportunity.

‘My client is a full-time fisherman, but the boat he was working on was tied up at Mallaig for four days and he met up with some of his old cronies,’ he explained.

Sentencing Christie, Sheriff Aitken said the drink driving charge reading was at a ‘very high level’.

‘And you have a string of convictions going back a long way.

‘With all these circumstances, you are quite aware that a custodial sentence is inevitable,’ he added.

Sheriff Aitken sentenced Christie to six months in jail, backdated to September 18 when he was first taken into custody.

He was also banned from driving for 39 months and had his licence endorsed.

He was admonished on the driving without insurance charge.

On the charge involving attempting to spit on a police officer, which Sheriff Aitken described as ‘utterly unacceptable’, Christie was jailed for three months to run concurrently with his six-month jail term.