Robert Weir V. Her Majesty's Advocate
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judge | Lady Cosgrove,Lord Justice General,Lord Marnoch |
| Neutral Citation | [2006] HCJAC 25 |
| Court | High Court of Justiciary |
| Date | 28 February 2006 |
| Docket Number | XC655/05 |
| Published date | 28 February 2006 |
| APPEAL COURT, HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY | |
| Lord Justice General Lady Cosgrove Lord Marnoch | [2006] HCJAC 25 Appeal No: XC655/05 OPINION OF THE COURT delivered by THE LORD JUSTICE GENERAL in APPEAL AGAINST SENTENCE by ROBERT WEIR Appellant; against HER MAJESTY'S ADVOCATE Respondent: _______ |
Respondent: D. Bain, A.D.; Crown Agent
28 February 2006
The circumstances
[1] On 19 July 2005 at a preliminary hearing in the High Court at Glasgow the appellant tendered a plea of guilty to charge (1) on the indictment against him, being a charge that on 21 September 2004, on various public roads he drove a motor vehicle dangerously, contrary to section 2 (as amended) of the Road Traffic Act 1988. The particulars of the charge were as follows:
"(a) on the M74 at Larkhall having brought said vehicle to a halt as required by uniformed police officers in a marked police vehicle, reverse said vehicle driven by you on the hard shoulder, drive off again on the northbound M74 at Larkhall and did drive at speeds exceeding 140 mph in a 70 mph speed limit, overtaking a motor vehicle while driving on the central reservation, collide with said vehicle,
(b) drive on the exit off ramp at the A723 Motherwell Road, Hamilton at speeds in excess of 60 mph in a 30 mph speed limit, drive across a 3 lane carriageway, mount the grassed central reservation and drive around vehicles then stationary at a red traffic light at the A723 Hamilton Roundabout,
(c) in Blackswell Lane, Hamilton, weave in and out of vehicles, collide with a raised kerb and cause said vehicle to face in the wrong direction, reverse over said raised kerb, drive into the face of oncoming vehicles there, and
(d) on the A723 Hamilton Roundabout at Motherwell Road, Hamilton, drive into the face of oncoming vehicles there, drive on the exit off ramp at the M74 at Hamilton, drive northbound on the hard shoulder of the southbound M74 at Hamilton and Bothwell, drive down the on ramp at the M74 Raith Interchange at Bothwell, cause your vehicle to leave the roadway there, collide with trees and bushes there and overturn said vehicle, whereby said vehicle was damaged and you were injured ... ".
[2] The vehicle being driven by the appellant at the relevant time was a BMW. The overtaking on the M74 occurred when that vehicle, being pursued by a police car, came upon a heavy lorry in the nearside lane as it was being overtaken by a motor car; the motorway at that point comprised two lanes in each direction. The BMW then braked, mounted the central reservation and accelerated again, overtaking the car while the BMW was partly on the central reservation and, as it did so, striking that car on its off-side. It then continued to accelerate; the pursuing police car was travelling at a speed of 142 mph, the BMW faster than that.
[3] The BMW, having left the M74 and joined the A723, was being driven by the appellant at a speed in excess of 60 mph. The appellant then came upon a set of traffic lights with stationary vehicles in all three lanes. He was still being pursued by the police car with its lights and siren activated. The appellant avoided the stationary traffic by mounting the central reservation and driving round these vehicles, through a red traffic light, and then entering Blackswell Lane. He then accelerated again, weaving in and out of vehicles, and turned round a left hand bend. As the pursuing police car rounded that bend, police officers saw the BMW facing in the direction from which it had come. The police car stopped in front of the BMW. The appellant's passenger was observed leaving the BMW and running off. The appellant, avoiding the police vehicle, then drove off up the A723 and disappeared from sight.
[4] Police officers resumed their pursuit of the BMW, which entered the M74 exit ramp travelling in the wrong direction into the face of oncoming traffic which was leaving the motorway. The appellant then drove on the motorway along the wrong carriageway - that is to say he drove in a northerly direction on the hard shoulder of the southbound carriageway, against the flow of traffic, until he reached the next junction, when he left the motorway by exiting on the entrance ramp. At the entrance ramp at this junction the appellant lost control of the BMW which crashed into trees and bushes and overturned.
The sentencing judge's approach
[5] The sentencing judge, unsurprisingly, took the view that it was one of the most serious cases of dangerous driving that he had come upon. In his report to this court he observed:
"To drive at speeds in excess of 140 mph, to overtake (and collide with) a car while partially on the central reservation, to drive through a red light and overtake stationary traffic again while on a central reservation, and then to drive along a motorway in the wrong direction I regard as falling at the most serious end of the scale of dangerous driving. It was remarkable that no one was injured or killed as a result".
[6] At the preliminary diet the Advocate depute had tendered a schedule of previous convictions in relation to the appellant. That disclosed that in December 2003 he had been convicted of a contravention of section 2 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 in respect of which he had been fined £250 and disqualified from driving for one year. He was thus so disqualified at the time of the instant offence.
[7] The maximum custodial penalty applicable...
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