Lord Watson jailed for 16 months

LABOUR peer Mike Watson was today sentenced to 16 months in jail for setting fire to a pair of curtains and endangering the lives of guests at one of Edinburgh's most upmarket hotels.

Sheriff Kathrine Mackie said his actions had been "deliberate and dangerous" and that there was a significant risk of him re-offending so he had to be given a custodial sentence.

The court heard Lord Watson, who pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to wilful fire-raising at Prestonfield House Hotel, claimed to have suffered an alcoholic blackout on the night of the incident and could not recall his actions.

But the sheriff told him his alcohol consumption neither explained or excused his behaviour. She said: "I have to say that someone in public office ought to know how to conduct himself on all occasions."

Lord Watson was taken to the cells in handcuffs by police as a friend comforted his wife.

The social inquiry report into his crime said that Lord Watson showed "very little victim awareness" of the impact his actions could have had.

The 56-year-old MSP showed only an awareness of the long and short term impact the fire raising had on himself and his wife, and he displayed a high level of denial, the report said.

His defence agent had earlier told Edinburgh Sheriff Court that Lord Watson's actions on November 12 last year could have been partly explained by his high pressure job and his wife's miscarriage earlier that year after many months of IVF treatment.

A number of letters were read out of support for Lord Watson from opposition politicians, the director of Dundee Football Club, and a number of members of the public.

His defence agent, Paul Burns, said his client had acted spontaneously and could offer no real explanation for his actions.

He added that the peer should be "given the same consideration and treatment as anyone else".

Mr Burns said alcohol had "become problematic" for Lord Watson and he had suffered a blackout on the night of the incident.

He admitted to the court that Lord Watson did not have a dependency on alcohol but had suffered a "blackout" on the night of the incident.

"It's likely that he would have cognitively disassociated and did not recognise the consequence of his actions. An attempt to find motive or logic is a pointless exercise and if it was not for alcohol clearly the probability is that his actions would never have occurred. I think that, or I would suggest, he has a growing problem and this contributed to the commission of this offence."

The incident - which was captured on the hotel's CCTV - happened when Lord Watson of Invergowrie was attending the Scottish Parliament's Politician of the Year Awards last November.

The former Scottish Sports and Culture Minister, of Fairfax Avenue, Glasgow, is automatically barred from being an MSP because he has been sentenced to more than a year in jail.

But his criminal conviction will not mean he is automatically barred from the House of Lords.

The Scottish Labour Party today said he would be expelled.