Drink driver jailed over death of Ayrshire taxi driver

A drink driving motorist who killed a 76-year-old taxi driver in a head-on crash after he drove on the wrong side of the road was jailed for seven years earlier.

Bulgarian Slavi Todorov, 34, was convicted of causing the death of John Neil Mackie on July 9 last year on the A70 Coylton to Ayr road near Roodlea gold club by driving dangerously.

A judge told Todorov at the High Court in Edinburgh: "Consumption of substantial amounts of alcohol had grossly impaired your driving."

Lord Ericht said: "You were around three times over the drink drive limit."

He said Todorov's actions had deprived the victim's wife of the husband she had known for almost 57 years.

The judge said he had taken into account the concern Todorov had expressed for the victim immediately after the incident and the remorse he had shown.

Lord Ericht told the first offender that he noted he had recently returned from Bulgaria where cars are driven on the other side of the road to the UK.

He banned Todorov from driving for 10 years and ordered he sit an extended test before returning to the road.

Todorov was earlier found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving but also admitted a further charge of drink driving with a count of 64 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The limit is 22 microgrammes.

Defence solicitor advocate Murray Macara QC said Todorov had no endorsements on his driving licence either in the UK or Bulgaria.

He said: "This really is a tragedy on every level. First and foremost it is a tragedy for Mr Mackie's family."

"He wishes it to be known by the Mackie family how genuinely remorseful he is for having committed the offence," he said.

He said that Todorov and his husband had returned from Bulgaria the week before the incident after driving across Europe.

Mr Macara said Todorov was assessed as posing a low risk to society. He ran his own business in Bulgaria before moving to London to work in construction where he met his partner and now husband.

Todorov had been visiting his brother-in-law but drove off to return to his home in Craigiehall Road, Kilmarnock, in Ayrshire, after downing vodka.

Minutes after leaving the house near Ayr he phoned his husband and said: "I've crashed the car, baby, I'm sorry."

Taxi driver Gary Keenan came across the wreckage of the Ranger Rover Evoque driven by Todorov and Mr Mackie's Ford Mondeo as he returned to Ayr.

He said it was dark and difficult to see the crashed vehicles until he was almost on it. He saw Todorov in the driver's seat of his vehicle and added: "He was motionless. At first I thought he was dead. He was staring straight ahead."

Mr Mackie was trapped between the driver's seat of his car and the steering wheel. Mr Keenan said he was struggling for breath and he told him to hang on as an ambulance was coming. The victim later died from multiple injuries.

PC Steven Callaghan said that as Todorov was being driven to Ayr police station he said he thought he was on the wrong side of the road. He added: "He was really distressed and had genuine concerns for the wellbeing of the other driver."

Todorov's husband John Kennedy said they had gone to his brother's home for dinner and stayed up watching TV after the host and his wife went to bed.

He said: "Slavi said I think we should go home and I said no we are staying over."

He said he was "a bit dumbfounded" to see car lights heading out the driveway and found the car was gone.