Sean brother faces jail for drink-driving

Neil Connery, 64, who lives in Edinburgh, was caught by police officers in Fife on June 16 while driving his Mercedes along the A921.

He was found to have 101 milligrams of alcohol in his system.

It is not the first time that he has been in court for drink-driving - eight years ago he received a one-year ban and a 300 fine after he was caught driving in Edinburgh while over the legal limit.

He could now face a prison sentence.

Connery appeared in the dock before Sheriff Stuart Forbes at Dunfermline Sheriff Court yesterday. Marjory Socha, defending, entered a plea of guilty on his behalf.

Sentence was deferred until July 30 while reports were gathered. Connery will then have to appear again in Dunfermline.

He famously apologised to his grandchildren after his last drink-driving escapade, saying: "They take enough stick as it is being related to Sean. I am truly sorry."

His wife Elinor Connery yesterday refused to talk about her husband’s appearance in court.

She said: "We will not be making any comment about this."

Even though he bears a striking resemblance to his world famous older brother, his life has been a great contrast.

Connery’s first drink-driving offence happened when he was caught behind the wheel with double the legal limit of alcohol.

The Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard that he was stopped because of the way he was driving in Edinburgh at 1am on October 8, 1994. Grant Knight, defending, said Connery had been at the airport where he drank on an empty stomach.

And Connery admitted driving with excess alcohol along Clermiston Road, St Johns Road and Kirk Loan.

While Sir Sean and his second wife Micheline live in either of their homes in the Bahamas or Los Angeles, living the high life and entertaining the Hollywood elite, Mr Connery and his wife Elinor live in a three-bedroom house in Corstorphine.

They have two daughters. Neil Connery had a short-lived film and television career himself.

In the late 1960s he appeared in an Italian film by director Dario Sabatello called Operation Kid Brother.

The film was not a success and he went on to feature in a low-budget documentary called Paisley Snail. He has also made a guest appearance in Taggart.

But he worked for most of his life as a plasterer beginning as an apprentice in 1956.

His career was ended by an accident in 1983 when he fell off a ladder, breaking his wrist and fracturing his pelvis.

Neil Connery regularly appears at public events with his famous brother and has defended the Hollywood star from his critics on a number of occasions.

He joined Sir Sean, 71, at Holyrood Palace when his brother received his controversial knighthood in May 2000.

Two years before the honour had been blocked by the late Donald Dewar because of Sir Sean’s support for the Scottish National Party.

Once, when asked to name his favourite films, he failed to nominate any of his brother’s blockbusters. Top of his movie list was the 1953 black and white French film, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, a comedy about an accident-prone bachelor who causes havoc at a seaside resort.

He named One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest second because of the powerful performance by Jack Nicholson.