Man killed after driver’s nine-hour drink session

A HIT and run driver mowed down a man on his way to a night out following a nine-hour drinking session.

Gerard McGougan had 15 drinks, including pints of lager and vodka chasers, before getting behind the wheel of his Vauxhall Vectra.

He ploughed into David Revells in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, and then fled the scene leaving the 33-year-old dead in the street. Bank worker McGougan, 46, was eventually caught and claimed to police that he had only a single pint at an Italian restaurant that day.

Yesterday at the High Court in Glasgow, however, he admitted to causing death by careless driving. A judge warned him that a jail term was “inevitable” when he returns to the dock in the new year.

The court heard McGougan had started drinking at Puccini restaurant in Cumbernauld around noon on 16 October, 2009. He had a pint of lager with his meal before later having 12 more drinks at a nearby bar.

He then went to the town’s Mortimer’s nightclub, where manager Kevin Smith described him as “steaming”.

The court heard that Mr Revells was on his way to meet a friend at around 9pm in Glasgow for a night out.

He was crossing Seafar Road when McGougan’s Vauxhall ploughed into him.

A taxi driver discovered the victim lying on a grass verge minutes later. Mr Revells had already died from head injuries suffered in the collision.

McGougan, of Tiree Drive, Cumbernauld, returned home and told his wife Lorraine: “I’ve hit somebody.”

She called police and McGougan later admitted to them he had been in an accident.

Prosecutor Stephen O’Rourke said that Mr Revells was “much loved” by his family and that his loss is “felt very greatly” by them.