A danger driver caught after tufts of his hair were found lodged in the smashed windscreen of a car he ploughed into a lamppost has avoided jail because of prosecution delays.
As we previously reported, Gary Brown took his pal’s car without consent hours after a heavy Hogmanay night out.
Brown careered through residential streets in Arbroath before completely losing control and crashing – destabilising a lamp post and coming to rest in a garden wall.
He was only traced when forensic examiners found tufts of hair in the cracked windscreen and determined they had been left when the driver, who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, had smashed his head into the glass.
He was traced from the sample after six months and the case then took a further 16 months to reach court.
A sheriff said: “For that reason alone you will not go to prison.”
Brown, 26, of North Grimsby, Arbroath, pleaded guilty on indictment to charges of taking a car without consent, dangerous driving, failing to stop at the scene of an accident, driving without a licence and driving without insurance.
The incident happened on January 1 2015 in Arbroath.
Defence solicitor Grant Bruce said: “He has paid towards the damage to the car and would be happy to pay towards the damage to the wall.”
Sheriff Alastair Brown imposed a community payback order with 280 hours unpaid work, six months supervision and £200 compensation to the homeowner whose wall was damaged.
He said: “You have an atrocious criminal record and the obvious and normal sentence for taking somebody’s car without permission and driving it dangerously is one of several years’ imprisonment.
“The only thing that can be said for you is this happened two years ago. Things have moved on for you.
“There was a delay in you appearing in court on petition and a very substantial delay in getting the case in to court.
“For that reason only I will deal with this by a community payback order.”
