A drink-driver who caused a crash that left his partner with brain damage has been jailed for more than four years.
James Stocks, 35, was more than double the legal limit when he got behind the wheel and ploughed his car into a wall in Airdrie.
Stocks’s then girlfriend Nicola Mears, who was a passenger in the Vauxhall Astra, was left fighting for her life.
Airdrie sheriff Frank Pieri yesterday dismissed Stocks’s lawyer’s plea for leniency.
Nicola suffered “catastrophic” injuries in the October 2015 crash and is now confined to a
wheelchair.
Stocks, of Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire, pleaded guilty to drink-driving and dangerous driving at an earlier hearing. His solicitor told Airdrie Sheriff Court Stocks had never spent time behind bars, adding: “He is genuinely remorseful.
“He would have a tremendous amount to offer in a community payback situation.”
But Sheriff Pieri told Stocks: “The fact remains that this is an extremely serious matter – in fact, it is difficult to imagine a more serious matter. I can only deal with this by way of a custodial sentence.”
Stocks was jailed for a total of 53 months and disqualified from driving for six years.
