A Crieff housewife has been jailed after a court heard she posed an alcohol-fuelled threat to public safety.
Julie Tait was caught drink-driving twice in just three days and each time police found she was vastly over the legal limit.
She was first found slumped behind the wheel by police shortly after midday on April 5 this year, having earlier been spotted driving erratically through the town by witnesses.
A night in the cells and a court appearance the following day failed to have a sobering effect, however, as she walked free, only to offend again two days later.
Perth Sheriff Court heard that Tait who kept her head bowed throughout her appearance on Wednesday had endangered the lives of children and families as she drove away from leisure facilities while so intoxicated she was barely capable of standing.
She was spotted staggering through the car park at Crieff Hydro by an off-duty police officer before getting behind the wheel as children in the hotel grounds enjoyed their Easter break.
The court was told that the 47-year-old had been “self-medicating with alcohol” at the time in a bid to blot out her feelings of depression and anxiety.
She had also been on a cocktail of prescribed medication and claimed to have little recollection of events as the side-effects of diazepam had apparently included “significant confusion.”
Nonetheless, Tait, of Turretbank Place, Crieff, admitted that on April 5, on various roads in the town, she drove a car with excess alcohol (103 mics) the limit is 35 and failed to co-operate with a preliminary breath test.
She also admitted that on April 8, in the public car park of the Crieff Hydro Hotel, Ferntower Road, she again drove with excess alcohol, this time 142 mics.
The court was told Tait had since sought help from her GP and the Tayside Alcohol Problems Service and was attempting to abstain from alcohol.
Despite that, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis told her: “You are a clear danger to people on the road and in the vicinity of your vehicle.
“I have to make it clear to people in the wider community that it is totally unacceptable to get behind the wheel of a car when unfit through drink, particularly when you have been apprehended for an identical offence just three days before.
“On both these occasions you were significantly over the legal limit and regretfully I consider that custody is the only possible disposal.”
He imprisoned Tait for five months and disqualified her from driving for seven years.