A death crash driver has dropped an appeal against his eight-year jail term – and told his victim’s family in the Highlands the sentence will give him “time to reflect” on his actions.
In a letter which pensioner Kenneth Robertson’s son said showed the “power of forgiveness”, drug addict Paul Mowatt described the prison sentence as “not worth” what he did after hitting the 89-year-old on a rural road between Forfar and Montrose.
Mowatt ran over Mr Robertson, but turned around and told people tending to the badly hurt senior citizen “I have hit someone”, before fleeing the scene.
He was high on a cocktail of cannabis, methadone and valium at the time of the accident in August, 2013.
Mr Robertson dies from his injuries a month later, weeks short of his 90th birthday.
Mowatt, 34, of Forfar, admitted causing his death by dangerous driving and was jailed for eight years and banned from driving for 15 years.
His lack of remorse had horrified the Robertson family, but through his solicitor, Nick Markowski, Mowatt has now sent a letter from his cell at Shotts Prison saying he “can’t imagine” what they feel about what he did.
The victim’s 66-year-old son, Hendry, from Inverness, said it was a surprise to receive a letter which he said appeared to show genuine contrition.
The family had already decided not to attend today’s scheduled appeal, but Mowatt had instructed his lawyer to drop that and instead penned the letter of remorse.
Mowatt wrote: “I can’t imagine what you must feel about me.
“I’m totally mortified, honest. I’ve played this over in my head every day.
“The eight years I got is not worth what I done but it gives me a lot of time to reflect on it.”
Mowatt also thanked the family for the compassion they had earlier shown.
“Also Hendry, you said in the paper you forgave me. Thank you, that means a lot, not only to me but my mother,” he wrote.
Mr Robertson said: “The letter came as a surprise but it was encouraging for us as a family to see how he felt about the whole issue and what he was going through.
“He has obviously had time to think about it and for him to write this letter is quite something.
“One of the things that came through was just the whole power of forgiveness.
“Right from the preliminary hearings we got the feeling that there was a lack of remorse and that was the hard thing for the family.
“To get this insight that maybe he has repented is something we welcome.”
He added: “Maybe there is a real change of heart and it would be a wonderful thing if it was the case that this could be a real turning point for Mr Mowatt to turn away from the kind of life he has led up to this point.
“We wouldn’t ask for anything more.”