Drink-driver jailed for five years after killing cyclist in head-on crash

A DRINK-driver who was three times the legal limit when he fatally collided with a cyclist has been jailed for five years after "utterly devastating" the victim's family.

Senior software consultant Konstantinos Tourlas died after suffering a broken neck when speeding motorist Andrzej Stankiewicz struck him head-on after crossing onto the wrong side of the road.

Dr Tourlas, known as Kostas, was thrown through the windscreen of Stankiewicz's car and onto a passenger in the vehicle.

Polish national Stankiewicz, 42, earlier pleaded guilty to causing the death of the keen cyclist on 12 June this year by driving without due care and attention and when unfit through drink.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard the driver was drinking heavily the previous night while watching the World Cup and had then topped up on beer on the day of the fatal collision as he worked on a rockery.

The motorist admitted driving at excessive speed, swerving about the road, failing to negotiate a bend and crossing onto the opposite carriageway into the path of Dr Tourlas, 38, who was out on a weekend cycle ride with his girlfriend Kathleen Ralston, 41.

Lord Bannatyne said: "I am clearly of the view that the only sentence open to me is a substantial custodial one."

The judge said: "I have to have regard in sentencing that at 3:48pm, approximately two hours after the collision which you were involved in, you were three times the legal limit for driving.

"You deliberately drove for some distance in the knowledge not only that you had been drinking heavily the night before but that you had gone on to drink on the day of the incident."

The judge said he had been driving at high speed "apparently without control", weaving about on both sides of the carriageway.

Lord Bannatyne said: "I have to take into account that your actions caused the death of Mr Tourlas and what that must firstly mean to his partner, who of course witnessed this incident, which must have been wholly horrific for her.

"I have been given victim impact statements from his family in Greece. It is quite apparent from these that the effect on them could properly be described as utterly devastating."

The judge said Stankiewicz would have faced a seven-year jail sentence but for his guilty plea. He also banned him from driving for ten years.

Defence solicitor advocate Robbie Burnett said he had been asked by Stankiewicz "to express his sincere and unreserved regret to Miss Ralston and the family of the deceased".

Police inspector Simon Bradshaw read a statement on behalf of the victim's family in which they said: "We hope this tragic case can act as a further reminder of the complete folly that is drink-driving and the disastrous consequences this can cause."