Boozed Fiscal At It Again

Big Wullie · Boozed Fiscal At It Again

The following is what happens when a fical gets off with drunk driving.

I can only thank God it was a Ford Ka she hit, and not somone or someone's child.

Wonder how the courts would have felt then

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/s...harged-with-careless-driving.html

Published: 30 Jul 2009
A TOP prosecutor who escaped a booze rap despite guzzling vodka in her car has been charged again - over a road smash.
Fiscal Anne Hart, 39, was accused of crashing her Audi into a parked Ford and breaking her elbow before being breathalysed in hospital.

She has now been charged with careless driving - but police are waiting on the results of blood tests before any alcohol-related charge is considered.

It comes just three months after she was cleared of being drunk in charge of a vehicle, despite being found slumped at the wheel of her BMW almost three times the booze limit.

As officers probed the latest alleged incident last night, a police source said: "She broke her elbow when she smashed into a parked car and was taken to hospital by ambulance.

"It was a couple of hours before she was breathalysed so it's procedure to get blood samples tested as well.

"If they are positive then she will no doubt be charged with drink driving."

In April, outraged road safety groups slammed Hart's acquittal at Arbroath Sheriff Court.

Cops found the mum-of-two in her BMW as it blocked traffic in Monifieth, Angus, on January 12 this year.

She was almost three times the limit after downing a quarter-bottle of vodka in her car.

And she was charged with being drunk in charge of a vehicle.

But the Dundee-based prosecutor told the court she was "distressed and upset" following her mother's death and the break-up of her marriage.

She said: "I remember the police coming, and I said, 'The keys are not in the ignition. It's OK, I'm a fiscal'."

Hart added: "I'd no intention of driving. I know the law."

She was later cleared by Sheriff Jamie Gilmour, who said there was "reasonable doubt" she planned to drive.

At the time Margaret Dekker, of the Scottish Campaign Against Irresponsible Driving, said: "This is an astonishing decision.

"Of all people, she should have been aware of the devastating consequences of such actions."

The Crown is appealing that case - but now the fiscal looks set to go before a court on another matter.

A Tayside Police spokeswoman said: "Officers attended the scene of a road traffic collision in Dundee at around 5pm on Monday July 27.

"An Audi car had collided with a parked Ford Ka.

"The driver of the Audi, a 39-year-old woman, has since been charged and reported to the procurator fiscal in connection with alleged motoring offences."

Related Story:

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/s...cal-let-off-in-her-own-court.html

scotkaz

If this woman had been punished the first time his would never have happened. The Sheriff who let her off the first time did the woman no favours whatsoever.

She is lucky it was only her who was hurt and not some child or old person.

It is clear she has a problem with drinking and I am sure she herself has suggested to people in court that they need to be getting help for their drug and alcohol addictions. She should take her own advice.

alocholism is a terrible thing to live with, and she might think cos she is well dressed, rich, got a job etc that she does not suffer from this, but she is wrong and needs to get herself some proper help and get herself off to AA.
There is no shame in her getting help but there is plenty of shame which is directed at the Judge who allowed this woman to keep driving and getting into more and more serious situations on the road.

What will it take for them to sit up and see that letting her off cos she is a fellow workmate is not helping her or anyone else.

What about the public saftey? Is that second to the old pals act?

Big Wullie

Scotkaz

allan mcleod

Surprise Surprise !!

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/n..._car_avoids_a_criminal_record.php

scotkaz

the Herald Article link has been disabled.

Its amazing how quickly this Fiscal has been to the court of appeal.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/8238757.stm
Prosecutor avoids criminal record

The court was told that Anne Hart had no intention to drive

Attempts to see a prosecutor given a criminal record after she was found drunk in her car have been unsuccessful.

Anne Hart, 38, from Dundee, was found by police at the wheel of her BMW on 12 January this year.

She was controversially cleared of drink driving after admitting being drunk while in charge of the vehicle.

However, the Court of Appeal agreed that the prosecutor would have been unlikely to drive while over the limit.

A previous hearing at Arbroath Sheriff Court, in front of Sheriff Jamie Gilmour, heard that Ms Hart's personal life had been in turmoil at the time of the incident.

After visiting an aunt to discuss her marriage break-up, she pulled her car over at Ferry Road, Monifieth, and drank a quarter bottle of vodka.

It would not be proper to substitute the verdict of conviction for the verdict of acquittal which the sheriff returned, albeit on the basis it was unsound in law

She then telephoned her brother to ask him to pick her up.

Ms Hart was cleared of having the intention to drive while under the influence after putting her car keys on the passenger side floor as a precaution.

However, the Crown challenged Sheriff Gilmour's ruling in the case and said she should have been convicted unless it could be proved there was "no likelihood" of her driving.

Judges at the Justiciary Appeal Court in Edinburgh were told that Ms Hart normally drove her children to school in the morning and would still have been over the legal drink drive limit if she had done so.

Credible witness

The court was told that Ms Hart had said she had no intention of driving before noon the day after her drinking session.

Lord Reed, who heard the appeal with Lord Hardie and Lord Philip, said that whether there was a likelihood, it had to be something "more than a speculative possibility".

He said the reason given by the sheriff for acquitting was wrong in law but the question remained as to whether he was bound to convict, as the Crown contended.

He added that in making an assessment, a number of features of the evidence had to be taken into account, including the sheriff finding her a credible witness and that she had made a serious effort to ensure she would not drive while over the limit.

He said it was accepted by the Crown that it was also necessary to have regard to her occupation as a fiscal and her experience.

The judge said: "It would not be proper to substitute the verdict of conviction for the verdict of acquittal which the sheriff returned, albeit on the basis it was unsound in law."