A MORAY museum volunteer and choir singer has been jailed for driving while banned – for the third time.
Fay Gwilliams will be spending Christmas in prison after police caught her driving while disqualified and without insurance.
The 74-year-old – a member of the Friends of the Falconer Museum group who has a PhD in mediaeval history – appeared from custody at Elgin Sheriff Court.
The widow, who also sings in a Bach choir, admitted driving without a licence or insurance on Nairn Road, Forres, on August 22 this year.
She also pleaded guilty to the same charges on the unclassified road from Kintessack to Nairn at Dyke on November 5.
The recent offences come after she was fined £950 and banned from driving for six months in April after being caught in her car without a licence on the A96 Aberdeen-Inverness road at Huntly.
Gwilliams was warned that she could face jail if she reoffended – but she was caught driving again, on various unclassified roads between Kintessack and Dyke, near Forres, on May 20.
For the second offence, she was banned from the road for eight months, fined £900 and the court forfeited her car in June.
But it emerged at her latest court hearing that Gwilliams had bought a new car in August – and got behind the wheel again.
Fiscal depute Kevin Corrins said police had received a tip-off that she had bought the new motor.
They spoke to a Forres car salesman who confirmed she had bought a vehicle from him.
“On November 5, police observed the same car being driven by the accused,” Mr Corrins told the court.
“Checks were carried out which confirmed she was the registered keeper of the car but also confirmed that she was disqualified from driving.”
Defence agent Ian Warburton said the latest case was “familiar territory” for Gwilliams, who lives at Wellhead House, Kintessack, near Forres.
He said: “She has now spent since November 6 in Cornton Vale Prison which has given her time to reflect on the situation and perhaps has now hammered home the gravity of the offence.
“I have told her there is every likelihood that the court’s patience has been tested too far.”
Sheriff Susan Raeburn said: “There is only one way to ensure that she does not drive again.
“I also have to protect the public.”
She sentenced Gwilliams to four months in prison and banned her from the road for a year.
She also accepted a Crown motion for forfeiture of the new car.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard in April that Gwilliams had been lonely since her husband died in 2007, leaving her on her own in a remote location.
Since being disqualified, the court heard, she had struggled to find an alternative method of transport for her weekly attendance at a Bach choir in Aberdeen, which was her “lifelong passion”.
She was caught in her Renault Clio on April 23, on her way home from the rehearsal.
Sheriff Graeme Napier warned Williams in April that her good education and standing in the community would not be enough to keep her out of jail if she offended again.