Inverness drink-driver changes plea thanks to police body cam footage
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A CCTV installer was stopped by a police constable who was concerned about the 37-year-old’s driving.
But if the officer hadn’t switched on his body cam as Mareks Knope, of Scorguie Court, Inverness was driving, the motorist might have escaped punishment because of the lack of corroboration.
Defence solicitor John MacColl told Sheriff Eilidh Macdonald that his client intended to go to trial and the legal argument would then have been presented.
However the prosecution, who had initially told the lawyer that there was no footage, then found it and it was viewed on the morning of the trial at Inverness Sheriff Court.
Knope then pleaded guilty to the offence which occurred in Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on November 20, 2022.
His reading was 101mcgs of alcohol in his breath when the limit is 22mcgs.
Fining Knope £640 and banning him from driving for 14 months, Sheriff Macdonald told him: “This is a significantly high reading. It is very dangerous to drive around in these circumstances.”
The sheriff certified Knope as suitable for a drink-drive rehabilitation course which, if he completes it successfully, will earn him a 25 per cent reduction on his ban.
