A drink-drive suspect smashed into a tree after a 100mph police chase down the A9 – then tried to pretend he had not been behind the wheel.
BT engineer John Purdie Brown accelerated away from police after bringing his black Mercedes Benz to a sudden halt in the middle of the road.
Pursuing officers saw him swerving from lane to lane and narrowly missing other cars before speeding out of sight.
Moments later, they came across his car wrapped round a tree.
Brown, 45, was outside, at the driver’s side of the vehicle.
He told police he was not the driver, but would not say who was.
During his trial at Perth Sheriff Court, police witnesses said the car – with a top speed of 134mph – was full of camping and fishing gear, with no space for anyone else inside.
Prosecutors argued for Brown’s claims to be true, he would have had to have been kidnapped.
Brown’s solicitor said no police searched through the fishing equipment to check if anyone was hiding inside.
Fanciful theory
At the end of the two-day trial, Sheriff Garry Sutherland said there was no reasonable doubt Brown was the driver and any other explanation would be “fanciful”.
He found him guilty of dangerous driving, failing to stop for police and refusing to identify the car’s driver.
The trial also heard Brown failed a roadside breath test but he was acquitted of an allegation he refused to provide a urine sample so police could determine his alcohol level.
Sentencing Brown, the sheriff said: “I take into account crashing your vehicle would have cost you a fair amount of money.”
Brown, of Baird Road, Monkton, was disqualified for two years and fined £1,000.
The court heard he will almost certainly lose his job.
Police tip-off
Police had received a tip-off about an alleged drink-driver on the A9 at around 10pm on February 2, the trial was told.
Officers traced the vehicle on the southbound section between Greenloaning and Dunblane.
When they activated their blue lights, the car came to a sudden halt in a live lane of traffic.
PC Alistair Gordon went to tell the accused to drive to a lay-by because he was posing a danger to other traffic.
Brown hit the accelerator and sped away at more than 100mph.
No other driver
Fiscal depute Elizabeth Hodgson said, despite his claims, Brown must have been the driver that night.
“During the police pursuit there was no opportunity for the vehicle to have pulled over and let someone out.
“When police found the vehicle at the Doune junction they saw the accused at the scene.
“There was only one air bag deployed and there were no other doors open.
“And there was no other person in the area.”
She said: “The accused was asked to identify the driver.
“He did not do that and we have no evidence that speaks to any other driver.”
The prosecutor said: “At one point, PC Gordon told us he saw the brake lights shimmering on this high spec vehicle because it was being driven so poorly and dangerously that the accused lost control.
“The accused then crashes into a tree with such impact it causes part of the tree to fall down onto the car.”
Ms Hodgson added: “If as he claims he was not the driver, the court would have to accept that the vehicle was either stolen or that he had been kidnapped or abducted.”
Solicitor Pauline Cullerton, defending, argued police had not searched the fishing and camping gear in the back of the car and could not rule out that someone was hiding among it.
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