Woman drove from court minutes after driving ban

Carina Russell gets in her car. Picture: Vic Rodrick

Brazen Carina Russell was made subject to an additional interim disqualification and warned she faced being jailed for the blatant breach of a court order.

Russell was seen driving her black Audi away from Livingston Sheriff Court on Wednesday afternoon following a one-year ban for drink driving.

She was later arrested at her home in Blackridge, West Lothian, and detained overnight in police cells.

The ban was handed out at Livingston Sheriff Court. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

The 25-year-old appeared from custody yesterday and pled guilty to two fresh motoring offences – driving while disqualified and without motor insurance.

Sheriff Susan Craig called for social work background reports before sentence because Russell has never served a prison sentence.

The sheriff commented: “She was disqualified yesterday then pleads guilty today to driving while disqualified yesterday.

“There must be a possibility at least of a custodial sentence to follow so I can remand her for reports.”

Darryl Lovie, defending, stressed that his client had not committed a similar offence before.

He told the court: “The seriousness of the situation is not lost on her. She’s upset with herself and the situation she finds herself in.

“However, there’s a somewhat unusual and very specific background to these offences.”

The sheriff agreed to release Russell on bail with a special condition not to drive any vehicle. She was also banned ad interim in addition to the one-year ban imposed the previous day.

The sheriff warned her: “You can’t lawfully drive any vehicle, but then you couldn’t lawfully drive any vehicle yesterday and you did.

“If for any reason you drive a vehicle, you put yourself at risk of breaching a bail condition and that in itself could amount to a crime.”

Sentence was deferred until April 9 for criminal justice social work reports an a restriction of liberty order assessment.