Jail for driver who injured MP's brother

A DRIVER who crashed his car into the brother of Conservative MP Dr Liam Fox and left him suffering permanent brain damage has been jailed for a year.

Paul Fox, 46, was severely injured when Craig Buchanan, 20, ploughed into him after losing control of his vehicle.

Mr Fox, a father-of-four, from East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, broke almost every major bone in his body as Buchanan hit his car head on.

His son Jonathon, 17, was also in the car but he escaped injury.

Buchanan's girlfriend, Lynsay McMahon, 23, was a passenger in his car and was badly injured.

Buchanan, of East Kilbride, pled guilty to dangerous driving on the A726 Strathaven Road on 5 March last year at an earlier hearing at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

Yesterday Miss McMahon and Buchanan's family broke down in tears as Sheriff Marie Smart jailed him for 12 months.

Buchanan, a trainee engineer who has a one-year-old daughter, had passed his driving test just a few months before smashing his silver Renault Clio into Mr Fox's red Ford Fiesta.

The incident occurred at about 10pm when Buchanan was seen accelerating past other cars while heading round a bend. Witnesses say he began to swerve from side to side.

Mr Fox, a foreign languages teacher, was treated in intensive care at Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride.

He was later moved to the Central Scotland Brain Injury Rehabilitation Centre, near Wishaw in Lanarkshire, where he learned to walk again.

His sight is also impaired and he has chronic communication problems and now has carers at home to assist him.

Yesterday defence advocate Jonathan Crowe read out a letter written by Buchanan in which he told of his "remorse".

He said: "This is an anxious case which has had devastating consequences for Paul Fox and Lynsay McMahon.

"My client has written a letter which reads: 'It is with heartfelt sorrow that I write this letter.

"'There has not been once from that day to this that I have not felt guilt and thought 'what if'.

"'The consequences of this will be with me every day. All these people have been affected due to my actions.

"'I pray no other families have to suffer in this way and I am truly sorry from the bottom of heart.'"

Last night Paul Fox said: "I think it's a fair result, it seems justified.

"I wasn't terribly sure that he would get a custodial sentence but expected he might.

"I'm going through operations this week which is at the top of my mind at the moment, the court case was always secondary to that."

Jailing Buchanan, Sheriff Smart told him a prison term was inevitable.

She added: "Your actions had a devastating result on Mr Fox and your girlfriend.

"I have no alternative but to impose a custodial sentence."

Sheriff Smart also imposed an eight year driving ban on Buchanan.