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Ex-judge fined for drink-driving | Ex-judge fined for drink-driving |
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A former crown court judge who was stopped on the M6 while nearly three times over the legal alcohol limit has been fined £1,200. | A former crown court judge who was stopped on the M6 while nearly three times over the legal alcohol limit has been fined £1,200. |
Officers pulled over Bruce Macmillan, 63, near Chorley when they spotted him driving erratically on 27 August. | Officers pulled over Bruce Macmillan, 63, near Chorley when they spotted him driving erratically on 27 August. |
Macmillan, who has admitted drinking and driving, was also arrested three weeks later when police found him drunk in charge of his car. | Macmillan, who has admitted drinking and driving, was also arrested three weeks later when police found him drunk in charge of his car. |
He was also banned from driving for two years at Chorley Magistrates' Court. | He was also banned from driving for two years at Chorley Magistrates' Court. |
The 63-year-old, from Aigburth on Merseyside, was now a "broken man" after his life had gone "badly wrong", the court heard. | |
Macmillan was first called to the bar 40 years ago and served as a circuit judge, with "perfect distinction", for 16 years. | |
He resigned from his £128,000-a-year job in September, a week before he pleaded guilty to drink-driving on the motorway in Lancashire. | |
He admitted his second offence of being drunk in charge of a car in Toxteth, Liverpool, before Chorley Magistrates' Court, during the same hearing that he was sentenced. | |
Missing person | |
On both occasions, he was found with half a bottle of spirits in his car, vodka on the first occasion and gin on the second. | |
After being stopped on the M6 in August, Macmillan said: "I've not had a drink today, officer." | |
Despite his claims, he was found nearly three times over the limit, during a test at Leyland police station. | |
He was charged and bailed the same day but three weeks later, on 17 September, police were called by his wife who awoke to find him not at home. | |
She was so concerned for his welfare, the court heard, she reported him as a missing person. | |
A little before midday, officers found him asleep behind the wheel of his car with the keys in the ignition, in Hill Street, Toxteth, Liverpool, with a half-empty bottle of gin and three times over the limit. | |
He handed over his driving licence and sat in the dock, head bowed, as his lawyer, Stuart Driver QC, explained his "fall from grace". |