Drink drive MLC was 'self-medicating' with alcohol

At Douglas Courthouse yesterday 57-year-old Tony Wild was told he was clearly "in no way fit to drive" when he made the decision to travel to Laxey Co-op on December 12th. 

 

Police stopped him at around 8pm that evening after reports of his "erratic driving" - he was so unsteady he had to hold onto a signpost; it transpired he'd been drinking for the previous five hours. 

 

At Douglas Courthouse yesterday his advocate said he knew he'd been "very foolish" adding he was struggling with mental health problems and was "self-medicating" with alcohol. 

 

The court heard he's since received treatment in the UK with his advocate adding it was clear that "abstinence" was the only way forward. 

 

Sentencing him Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes said she took into account letters of support from five of his fellow politicians, and the Bishop, and said she was persuaded to take a different route than jail. 

 

Instead she sentenced him to 180 hours of community service and disqualified him from driving for five years and until he's undertaken an extended driving test and a drink-drive rehabilitation course - he was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £243.