Grieving family in mercy plea for killer drink-driver

The father of a university student who lost his life in a road accident pleaded for leniency as the Scottish drink driver who killed his son was jailed for 32 months.

Donal McGrath said he did not want to see another life wasted and asked the judge to pass the lightest sentence possible on Alexander Bell-Irving.

Bell-Irving, 22, from Lockerbie, was nearly two-and-a-half times the limit when he failed to negotiate a bend on a country lane in Wiltshire and crashed into a tree.

He escaped with minor injuries but his front seat passenger - best friend Benedict McGrath - suffered fatal injuries and was declared dead at the scene.

They were both undergraduates at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, and had spent the evening of 10 January this year drinking at a pub in Oaksey, near Marlborough, Wilts. Bell-Irving and Mr McGrath, 20, who was known to his friends as Ben, were meeting up with two other friends for the first time since before Christmas.

Swindon Crown Court heard that the defendant and Mr McGrath left the pub at about 11pm to return to the flat they shared in Cirencester.

Bell-Irving got behind the wheel of his Vauxhall Corsa and shortly after leaving the pub he failed to negotiate a left-hand bend close to woods and hit a tree. A police crash investigator concluded that Bell-Irving was not speeding and simply failed to negotiate the bend because he was drunk.

Prosecutor Colin Meeke told the court: "Mr McGrath was not wearing a seatbelt. Whether that might have helped him is mere speculation.

"The pattern of the tyre tracks led the police investigator to one conclusion only - that the high alcohol level in Mr Bell-Irving had simply led him to not negotiate the bend."

Mr Meeke added: "He has never sought to evade responsibility for what he has done and he pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity."

Friends had written more than a dozen character references in support of Bell-Irving and many were in court yesterday to see him sentenced.

Also present was Mr McGrath's family - father Donal, mother Anna and sisters Rachel and Imogen - who were also backing Bell-Irving.

Mr McGrath told the court that he first met Bell-Irving - nicknamed Adge - about a year ago and since his son's death the defendant had stayed at his home with his family and had spoken of what happened.

Describing the relationship between the defendant and his son, Mr McGrath said: "They were very close friends, they were great friends.

"They were housemates. They spent a lot of time together and they shared the same interests."

Mr McGrath went on: "I think a lot of what has been said in court expresses exactly what his (Bell-Irving's] character is. He is very remorseful."At an earlier hearing, Bell-Irving, of White Hill, Hoddum, Lockerbie, admitted causing the death of Mr McGrath by careless driving while unfit through drink. His blood alcohol reading of 182mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.