A SPEEDING drink driver who killed his friend in a car crash after he got fed up waiting for a taxi has been jailed for nine years.
Murray Geddes admitted causing the death of Graeme McKenzie, a 38-year-old father-of-one, after he got behind the wheel following an evening spent drinking in a pub in Banffshire on May 16.
Witnesses told police Geddes was driving like a "speed demon" and was thought to have reached 95mph as he travelled along the A941 Craigellachie to Rothes road, in Morayshire. He overtook a lorry and two other vehicles before he lost control and the car spun off the road.
Geddes, of Linn Brae, Aberlour, Banffshire, told police after the fatal collision that he had taken his powerful, two litre Audi S3 from the pub because he was "fed up waiting for a taxi".
At the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Glennie said: "You pled guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. Those words are barely adequate to describe the offence."
Lord Glennie told him that he knew when he set off that he was unfit to drive and that was why he had called a taxi.
The judge said he had read victim impact statements that were prepared and said they were "clearly devastated".
He added: "I accept the genuineness of your remorse.
"You have lost a close friend, but his family have lost a son, a brother, a husband and a father."
He told Geddes that he would have jailed him for 11 years, but for his guilty plea.
He also disqualified Geddes from driving for 12 years and said the ban would continue until he passed a test.
Defence counsel David Moggach said Geddes was a hard-working man who had tried to make the most of opportunities in life.
He said the accident victim was a close and long-standing friend. "It is something he will never forget. He will live with the consequences of this for the remainder of his life," he added.
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