Schoolgirl tried to save drink drive father from jail
- Published
A sheriff has ignored a schoolgirl's plea not to send her father to jail after he was caught drink driving for the third time in seven years.
Jillian Cain, 16, said she was dreading friends passing judgment if her father Peter was sent to prison.
The 46-year-old was found drunk at the wheel on the A9 Inverness to Perth road, near Luncarty, in December 2009.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis jailed him for 175 days and banned him from driving for eight years.
He was also ordered to resit the extended driving test before getting his licence back.
In her letter to the court, Jillian Cain wrote: "I have grown up knowing my dad's judgment has been clouded by alcohol and he did not always act upon his responsibility as a father.
"By sending him to jail I do not feel it would help his mental state and his progress.
"I also feel it would affect me as I have just got my dad back acting himself and caring for his children.
"I would hate to have to deal with school friends commenting on me and passing judgment if my dad goes to jail. I have had to cope with his alcohol problem for a large part of my life, but now he's sober all the time."
'Major hazard'
Cain earlier admitted driving while nearly three times the legal drink drive limit on 6 December last year.
The court was told that he was caught less than six months after a sheriff agreed to cut short his previous five-year ban and restore his driving licence 12 months early.
Sheriff Foulis said: "This is the third time you have got behind the wheel under the influence of alcohol.
"You were allowed your licence back a year early but within six months you were driving again with your alcohol reading approaching three times the limit.
"You were driving on the major trunk road from central Scotland north. It is patently obvious that driving in that condition you created a major hazard to other road users."
The sheriff added that he did not call into question the sincerity of Miss Cain's plea, but he added: "I would consider that I would not be doing my duty if I did not impose a custodial sentence."