Man who killed school pals in horror crash as teenager is banned from road again
An East Lothian man who killed three school pals in a horror crash when he was an under-age driver has been banned from the road again after he was caught drink driving.
Robbie Gemmell was just 16 when he ploughed his friend Jenna Barbour’s Peugeot 206 into a brick wall on a country road in East Lothian in 2013.
Gemmell initially told police he was in the passenger seat in the fatal smash that claimed the lives of Ms Barbour, 18, Joshua Stewart, 16, and 15-year-old David Armstrong.
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But a subsequent investigation proved he was behind the wheel and he later broke down and confessed to a family member while lying recovering from his injuries in a hospital bed.
Gemmell was spared a jail term and sentenced to 300 hours unpaid work and given a four year driving ban after he admitted to causing death by driving without due care and attention.
Gemmell, now 28, was back in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court this week where he was banned from driving again after he drove a motorbike while almost four times the limit on May 13 last year.
Gemmell, of Dunbar, East Lothian, also pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting a police officer on May 2, and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on May 15, both last year.
Sheriff Adrian Fraser banned him from driving for 18 months, placed him on a two year supervision order and said he must complete 180 hours of unpaid work as a direct alternative to custody.
The sheriff also said Gemmell must attend alcohol treatment services when directed to do so.
Previously the court heard Gemmell had been drinking alcohol when an argument broke out between him and his partner on May 13 last year. The woman left the property to visit her mother and Gemmell chased after her on his Honda motorbike.
He caused a disturbance and was later arrested by police and admitted he had been drinking earlier that evening.He provided a breath test reading of 82mg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The legal limit is just 22mg.
Gemmell has previously escaped a road ban after he was convicted of driving without due care and attention by colliding with a roundabout just three miles away from where his three friends were killed. He admitted driving at excessive speeds and losing control of the vehicle where he was left injured at Thistly Cross Roundabout, on the outskirts of Dunbar, on April 16, 2021. He had eight penalty points placed on his licence and fined £640.