Drink driver admits causing death on M90
A drink driver has admitted causing the death of his teenage passenger after he lost control of his car while speeding on a motorway slip road.
Jamie Fleming, 21, from Fife, admitted causing the death of Ricky Brown, 18, by driving carelessly and with excess alcohol on 18 March 2011 near Perth.
Fleming had 140 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The limit is 80 in 100 millilitres of blood.
Investigators said the car could have been travelling at up to 83 mph.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how Fleming, from Newburgh, told police he did not think the alcohol he had consumed had affected him.
The apprentice plumber said he "felt fine" despite being nearly double the permitted drink drive limit after downing three pints of lager, one and a half vodka and cokes and a further shot of spirits.
He drove at excessive speed, failed to negotiate a bend and lost control of the vehicle at the M90.
After they were freed from the car both driver and passenger were taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, where Mr Brown later died.
The advocate depute said: "He was asked to describe his sobriety given the number of alcoholic drinks he had consumed on the night of the incident. He stated that he felt fine and didn't think it affected him."
He said he had been picking up speed and went to put the car into fifth gear but encountered a problem and went into third because of a fault with the gear knob.
He looked down to sort the problem and when he looked back up was off course and tried to rectify it but lost control.
Defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson said Fleming had made "a catastrophic error of judgement", specifically driving while under the influence of alcohol.
The judge, Lady Stacey, deferred sentence on Fleming until next month for a background report.