A drink-driving carer who sped through Aberdeen as police tailed him first came to the attention of officers by “unlucky coincidence”.
Keith Jamieson drove carelessly and whilst more than three times the drink-drive limit through the city centre after he saw police and sped off.
Officers, meanwhile, only stopped to check out his car because it was the same make and colour as one they were looking for in connection with another incident a few streets away.
The 55-year-old carer panicked, though, as he drove home from work because he knew he had been drinking.
Officers put on their blue lights as they raced to catch up with the accused and followed him through the Northfield area of Aberdeen, during which he collided with two parked vehicles.
Fiscal depute Christine Brownlee told Aberdeen Sheriff Court officers first spotted Jamieson’s car on Byron Avenue in the early hours of April 3, last year.
Hit 50mph during incident
“They turned their car around and went to approach this vehicle,” she said. “They had to put blue lights on the vehicle to try and catch up with him. Police followed his vehicle along Byron Avenue, Forest Drive, Springhill Road, Sheddocksley Road and Sheddocksley Avenue. He was travelling at speeds of approximately 50mph.
“They temporarily lost sight of the vehicle but just moments later they traced it on Sheddocksley Drive.
“It had damage to its front off-side.”
Jamieson was found to have a breath reading of 72 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath, the legal limit being 22 microgrammes.
Defence agent Kevin Longino said: “This whole incident was a perfect storm of poor decisions making and unfortunate coincidence.”
He explained that Jamieson had been working as a carer that evening.
A tale of ‘unfortunate coincidences’
“He had clearly been drinking that evening and the first poor decision was then to be driving at all,” he said. “He fully accepts he shouldn’t have done so.
“The first unfortunate coincidence, meanwhile, is there was a second incident, not involving him, at nearby Rubislaw Place. The complainer in that case said they were able to identify the car involved and it was the same make and colour as the one Mr Jamieson was driving home from work in coincidentally.
“He was driving in the same area just as the police got an alert in.”
Jamieson was also found in possession of a knuckle duster, something his defence agent claimed he used as a stress-alleviating “fidget toy” that he had “forgotten was in his pocket”.
Admitted the charges
He admitted a charge of careless driving, another of drink driving and a further one of being in possession of an offensive weapon.
Sheriff Margaret Hodge banned Jamieson, of Sheddocksley Drive, Aberdeen, from the road for one year and ordered him to carry out 260 hours of unpaid work.
His co-accused, Craig Fraser, was arrested during the same incident. He admitted charges of threatening or abusive behaviour towards police officers and attempting to pervert the course of justice by later giving a false name to officers.
The 33-year-old, also of Sheddocksley Drive, was fined £660.
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