Woman drove from court minutes after driving ban

Brazen Carina Russell was made subject to an additional interim disqualification and warned she faced being jailed for the blatant breach of a court order.

Russell was seen driving her black Audi away from Livingston Sheriff Court on Wednesday afternoon following a one-year ban for drink driving.

She was later arrested at her home in Blackridge, West Lothian, and detained overnight in police cells.

The 25-year-old appeared from custody yesterday and pled guilty to two fresh motoring offences – driving while disqualified and without motor insurance.

Sheriff Susan Craig called for social work background reports before sentence because Russell has never served a prison sentence.

The sheriff commented: “She was disqualified yesterday then pleads guilty today to driving while disqualified yesterday.

“There must be a possibility at least of a custodial sentence to follow so I can remand her for reports.”

Darryl Lovie, defending, stressed that his client had not committed a similar offence before.

He told the court: “The seriousness of the situation is not lost on her. She’s upset with herself and the situation she finds herself in.

“However, there’s a somewhat unusual and very specific background to these offences.”

The sheriff agreed to release Russell on bail with a special condition not to drive any vehicle. She was also banned ad interim in addition to the one-year ban imposed the previous day.

The sheriff warned her: “You can’t lawfully drive any vehicle, but then you couldn’t lawfully drive any vehicle yesterday and you did.

“If for any reason you drive a vehicle, you put yourself at risk of breaching a bail condition and that in itself could amount to a crime.”

Sentence was deferred until April 9 for criminal justice social work reports an a restriction of liberty order assessment.