Mr Robert Brown, aged 26, appeared yesterday in Glasgow High Court for death by dangerous driving. 

On the 10th October 2021, Mr Brown hit Mr James Harris when he was driving under the influence in Argyll and Bute. Following the incident he left the scene claiming he believed it was a deer that he had hit, not a human. 

At his high court appearance, he pled guilty to the offence of causing death by dangerous driving. The court heard how the victim, Mr Harris was a father to two kids who was driving home from a birthday party that he had attended with his wife. 

CCTV footage showed Mr Brown drinking alcohol at a hotel in Taynuilt where he was staying before getting into his vehicle shortly after midnight. It is estimated in the evidence that the crash occurred approximately 15 minutes after Mr Brown departed from the hotel. 

Mr Brown accepted that he was driving in excess of the 30mph speed limit. 

Mr Harris was found unconscious after being ejected from his vehicle on impact. He was found to have suffered multiple skull fractures, rib fracture, a fractured spleen and a fractured pelvis. He died immediately after the collision.

Following the collision, Mr Brown drove 65 miles to Dumbarton and his phone record showed 32 calls to his parents. He claimed to officers that he thought he had hit a deer. This was despite phone search records showing he has searched for news in that local area and him accessing a news report on a “man who died following an early morning hit and run in Taynuilt”.

Mr Brown’s defence agent informed the court that he was rushing home after getting a phone call from his pregnant wife alerting him to a medical issue. 

Judge Lord Scott told Brown that he will receive a custodial sentence at the High Court in Edinburgh and disqualified him from driving meantime.