'˜Utterly intoxicated' drink-driver jailed for killing dogwalker

Darren Ferris, 24, who has been jailed for nine-and-a-half years after knocking down and killing Linda Carson. Picture: PA

An “utterly intoxicated” drink-driver who knocked down and killed a woman as she walked her dog has been jailed for nine and a half years.

Speeding Darren Ferris, who had been drinking large quantities of Buckfast, was over the limit and disqualified from driving when he lost control of his car and ploughed into mother-of-one Linda Carson.

Mrs Carson, 44, suffered multiple severe injuries and died at the scene of the crash, which happened at about 8pm in a residential area of Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, on 27 September last year.

The scene where 44-year-old Linda Carson was killed. Picture: Hemedia

Ferris, who abandoned the car and fled the scene, previously pleaded guilty to causing Mrs Carson’s death by driving dangerously whilst under the influence of alcohol and at excessive speeds. The 25-year-old – who has a number of previous convictions, including two for drink driving – also admitted driving while disqualified, without a licence and with no insurance on the day of the fatal crash.

Passing sentence at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, Judge Lord Turnbull jailed Ferris for nine and a half years and disqualified him from driving for 12 years. He said Mrs Carson was in the prime of her life when she was killed outright in the crash.

“The sentence I must impose will probably seem insignificant by comparison with the sentence which you have imposed upon that family,” he told Ferris.

Tony Graham, defending, said he was instructed by Ferris to express his “remorse and sorrow”. He added:“Mr Ferris recognises that he has caused utter devastation to the family.”

Lord Turnbull said Ferris was “utterly intoxicated” at the time of the crash. He told Ferris, who turned 25 on the day he was sentenced: “Your behaviour on that evening, when seen in the context of your previous offending, demonstrates that you have no sense of the civilised values by which others in our community live their lives.”