A BOOZED-UP motorist who crashed his car just hours after being spared jail for a previous drink-driving offence has dodged a prison sentence again.

Johnstone man Jamie Alexander, 27, smashed his Vauxhall Corsa into a fence at a farm while nearly three times the drink-drive limit, resulting in animals escaping from a field and onto the road.

He was drunk at the time as he had gone to the pub to celebrate being spared jail for a previous drink-driving offence.

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Alexander had appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court last month to plead guilty to drink-driving and being in possession of a knife in public.

He could have been caged for up to 12 months for the offences but, instead, was fined £900 and handed a one-year driving ban.

Alexander then went to the pub with a friend and drank again, before crashing his car while trying to drive home.

The details emerged when Alexander returned to court to admit four charges – driving while disqualified, drink-driving, driving without insurance and careless driving.

Procurator fiscal depute Carol Cameron said the latest offences took place on August 28, just after Alexander had been banned from the roads for a year.

Alexander came up with a string of lies in a bid to cheat justice, initially claiming he had lost control of the car after suffering a tyre blowout.

He then said someone must have stolen his vehicle and crashed it, even though he had the key.

Later, Alexander claimed he had left his car parked there all day while going to court, as it would be easier for his girlfriend to pick it up after he received his ban, and that he walked back to the vehicle to find someone had crashed into it.

However, he eventually admitted he had been driving while over the limit and crashed, with police noticing blood and dirt on both his hands.

Defence solicitor Amy Spencer said: “To describe these offences as ‘mindless, irresponsible and idiotic’ would be understating it.

“He has landed in a lot of hot water. Why he drove to court on the day of a drink-driving trial he cannot explain. He pleaded guilty and was banned and had alcohol with someone he met in court and had planned, he tells me, to get public transport home but then decided, stupidly, to chance it – and devastation has followed.”

Sentence had been deferred for background reports to be prepared and Alexander returned to the dock last week to learn his fate.

Defence solicitor Amy Spencer asked for leniency for Alexander, who had been remanded in custody to await sentence.

She said his girlfriend was struggling “emotionally and financially” as he had been remanded and that he knew his actions had been “beyond stupid.”

She pointed out he had spent three weeks behind bars, adding: “He never wants to return to custody.”

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After hearing that Alexander works as a landscape gardener and had written to the farmer to apologise and offer to fix the damaged fence, Sheriff James Spy spared him jail.

He placed Alexander on a year-long Community Payback Order that will see him being supervised by social workers.

Alexander was also told to complete 250 hours of unpaid work within 10 months and was banned from driving for 42 months.