Court / Man ‘guilty as charged’ after drink-driving incident

A NORTHERN Irishman who said he was “guilty as charged” to drink-driving on Sunday night has been banned from the road.

David Gerard Crawford, from Strabane, appeared from custody to plead guilty to driving while more than four times over the limit from the Mid Brae Inn on Sunday.

The 47-year old also admitted failing to stop when required to by police and driving while already disqualified.

Lerwick Sheriff Court heard that police had been tipped off that Crawford was drinking and driving in Brae on Sunday.

When they arrived at the Mid Brae Inn they found him getting into a Transit van, and they pursued him.

But when officers turned on the blue emergency lights to signal for Crawford to pull over, instead he carried on driving for a short distance before stopping in a driveway.

At that point he took off on foot, with officers catching him after a “short chase”.

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He was taken to Lerwick Police Station and found to have 90 microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath, more than four times the legal limit of 22 microgrammes.

Representing himself at court this afternoon (Monday), Crawford said he was “guilty as charged” when asked if he wanted to say anything about the incident.

The court heard he had a number of previous convictions, including a previous conviction in 2023 for driving while banned and for failing to provide a breath specimen, which he admitted.

Crawford said he was currently working in Shetland, and that his employment would not be affected by any driving ban.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank fined Crawford £800 for driving under the influence, and banned him from the road for three years.

He can reduce this by nine months, however, if he completes the drink-driver rehabilitation course.

Sheriff Cruickshank also fined him £500 for driving while banned, and admonished him for failing to stop when required to by police.

With the victim surcharge, Crawford’s total fine came to £1,375.