A drink-driver has admitted consuming 14 bottles of wine a week to drown out her money problems.
Perth Sheriff Court heard on Monday that beauty therapist Aileen Williamson used alcohol as “a crutch” over a four-year period as she tried to make ends meet.
What spare money she did have was spent on wine, with the 41-year-old consuming two full bottles a day at the height of her difficulties an admission that left the sheriff incredulous.
She was finally forced to address her problems after being stopped by police in her home town of Comrie in May. Williamson had driven to the Comrie Medical Centre for a doctor’s appointment, only for staff to suspect she was under the influence of alcohol.
Following a call to the police, officers pulled Williamson over as she left the practice and drove out onto the town’s Strowan Road. They detected a strong smell of alcohol from the accused and also found two passengers in her Suzuki Vitara 4×4.
She later gave a positive breath test at divisional police headquarters in Perth that indicated she had been driving while nearly three times the legal alcohol limit.
Solicitor David Sinclair claimed his client had enjoyed lunch with a friend and had consumed two large glasses of wine. Then, having suffered a severe outbreak of a skin complaint, she took the ill-advised decision to drive to her local medical practice for a repeat prescription.
Sheriff Robert McCreadie felt moved to question the claim made by the accused that she had consumed just two glasses of wine prior to her arrest.
He said: “You were getting on for three times the legal limit and so to my mind the amount of alcohol suggested by your agent does not sound particularly credible.”
On hearing that her two bottles of wine a day cost her around £9, he also questioned how turning to the bottle could possibly help with her money worries.
Conservatively estimating her outlay at more than £50 a week, more than £200 a month and more than £2500 a year, he told the accused: “That is the stark reality.”
Williamson, of Fields of Refuge, Comrie, had admitted that on May 19, on Strowan Road in Comrie, she drove a car with excess alcohol (94 mics). The legal limit is 35 mics.
Her solicitor David Sinclair told the sheriff: “Ms Williamson readily accepts that she has made a grave error in driving her car on the day in question. She did use alcohol as a crutch but the worries that were around before have now alleviated.
“She is now seeking treatment and progress is being made and, while she is still consuming alcohol, there is hope that with the assistance of professional bodies she can become abstinent.”
The agent asked the court to consider deferring the matter to enable his client to prove to the court that she was making progress.
Sheriff McCreadie deferred sentence until November 17 for Williamson to be of good behaviour and to enable the court to secure a report from the Tayside Council on Alcohol.
She has been disqualified from driving in the interim.