AN AYRSHIRE prisoner who was caught 16 TIMES the drug-driving limit behind the wheel before being found in possession of a nine-inch-long blade has had an unusual request granted…after he asked to be sent back to jail.

William Johnstone’s lawyer said the 36-year-old serial offender felt he was “making progress for the first time” with his addiction issues while behind bars, after spending almost two months on remand awaiting sentence.

And Sheriff Shirley McKenna agreed to Johnstone’s plea and imposed a prison sentence of more than five months on a series of charges.

Johnstone had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to charges of stealing a vehicle, driving under the influence of drugs, possession of a knife, and failing to tell police he had a blade.

The offences were committed on the night of November 23-24 last year.

The court heard police had received a report at around 11.17pm from staff at a McDonald’s restaurant in Kilmarnock, who believed a driver who’d visited the premises was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The witness gave police the registration number, and cops discovered it had been reported stolen from Livingston in West Lothian earlier that day.

A second report was then received of a person acting suspiciously at Tesco Extra on West Shaw Street.
Further details indicated it was the same man and vehicle as had been seen at McDonald’s.

But Johnstone wasn’t traced until the same vehicle was found stopped on the A71 Kilmarnock to Irvine road following “some form of collision”.

Johnstone, Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard, was slumped over the steering wheel and initially unresponsive – and when he eventually came to, he told police he “just needed a rest”.

At around 12.33am he provided a breath specimen which produced a positive result.

A blood sample given later that night showed the proportion of benzoylecgonine, the major metabolite of cocaine, in his system was more than 800 microgrammes per litre of blood, more than 16 times the limit of 50 microcgrammes.

The knife offences, the court heard, happened on March 3, when police received a report of a man lying unresponsive in Titchfield Street in Kilmarnock.

Cops offered to take him home, but before doing so they told him he’d be searched.

When asked if he had anything sharp on him, Johnstone said ‘no’ – but a knife with a blade around nine inches long was found in his pocket.

He was arrested, cautioned and charged, and claimed: “I forgot the knife was on me. It was to open my door.”

Peter Murray, defending, said Johnstone had an extensive record and long-standing addiction issues, with his latest offences “reflective of his addiction and lifestyle at the time”.

Mr Murray said: "He wishes to be remanded in custody as he felt this was the best place for him to address his issues.

"He has taken advantage of the services available to him since, and is completely drug-free at the moment.

“He does not wish me to try and persuade your lordship to impose a community-based disposal.

“For the first time in his life he feels he has made progress. He doesn’t want to set himself up to fail – he want to break the back of his addiction issues.”

Sheriff McKenna said: “You have so many previous convictions; I do not want to embarrass you by saying how many.

“It is an unusual step you have taken, but I can completely understand, given your situation and how things are progressing.”

Johnstone was handed a sentence of 163 days, backdated to his initial remand on April 23.