A DRINK driver who killed a friend in a car crash then claimed the victim had been behind the wheel has been jailed for eight years.
Mark Kane, of Clelland, North Lanarkshire, lost control of his Volkswagen Golf causing Andrew Duffy, 29, to be thrown from the vehicle and killed.
The court heard Kane managed to clamber from the wreckage before later stating: "I'm in deep s*** now."
But the 39-year-old went to trial at the High Court in Glasgow after insisting Mr Duffy had been the driver.
However, a jury did not accept his claims and he was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.
Kane returned to court yesterday to be sentenced.
Judge Alastair Stewart QC told him: "The standard of the driving was quite appalling, aggravated by the fact you had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol."
The judge also disqualified him from driving for 10 years.
The trial heard how Kane was "tailgating" motorist Kenneth Goodbrand on a road in Shotts, North Lanarkshire, on April 5, 2011.
Mr Goodbrand, who was with his wife and children, described Kane's driving as "erratic" before he overtook on a blind bend and lost control. His car left the road and spun onto its roof.
Mr Goodbrand stopped to help and found Kane sliding out the driver's side window.
He told the court: "I asked him if was he driving, but he said nothing. "
Mr Goodbrand added: "He then said something like 'we will need to get our stories straight' or 'I will need to get my stories straight'.
"You could smell the alcohol off him. He was staggering about - incoherent."
It emerged Kane had been given a three-year driving ban in 2001 for failing to give a breath specimen to police.
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