Drunk driver who caused death jailed for two years

A DRUNK motorist who caused an elderly man’s death by careless driving was jailed for more than two years yesterday.

Peter Mechan, 47, admitted causing the death of Lewis Leslie, 83, at a hearing last month.

Mr Leslie died in hospital on 13 August, 2009, two days after he was in a road accident on the A198 in East Lothian.

His wife Margaret, also 83, took the news of his death badly and had a stroke. She died on 31 August that year, 20 days after the crash.

At the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, Judge Lady Dorrian sentenced Mechan to two years and three months in prison.

She said: “The degree of carelessness involved in your actual driving was relatively low.

“However, the level of alcohol in your bloodstream was not, and the decision to drive when under the influence of alcohol is a factor which significantly increases the seriousness of your action.

“The calculated decision involved in the offence makes me conclude that only a custodial sentence would be appropriate.

“However, I am satisfied that there are mitigating factors which enable me to limit that sentence.”

Last month the court heard Mr Leslie, a grandfather who lived in Gullane, East Lothian, was returning from a night out in Edinburgh on 11 August, 2009 when the crash happened.

He was in the front passenger seat of a Peugeot being driven by his friend, 62-year-old George Montgomery.

At the road’s junction with Seton Mains, Mechan had failed to give way and pulled into the dual carriageway in front of the Peugeot.

Mr Montgomery hit the brakes and swerved but was unable to avoid Mechan’s Rover and collided with it.

After the crash, Mr Leslie said he was “fine” but told paramedics he had neck pain and no sensation in his legs. Firefighters cut him free and he was taken to hospital, where he was found to have a fractured breastbone and neck. His condition deteriorated and he died at Roodlands hospital, Haddington, two days later.