Boxer Harrison jailed for eight months after attacking girlfriend and drink-driving

THE fall from grace of former world boxing champion Scott Harrison continued yesterday when he was jailed for a total of eight months for assaulting his girlfriend and drink-driving.

Harrison, 31, from Cambuslang, near Glasgow, had pleaded guilty earlier this year to the attack on Stacy Gardner and a police officer following the apparent suicide of his uncle.

Despite pleas by his lawyer, Philip McWilliams, for clemency, Sheriff Celia Sanderson jailed him for two months, saying: "In the circumstances the only sentence I can impose is a custodial one."

Appearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court, Mr McWilliams had asked the sheriff to "give him a chance" to get over his problems and spare him jail.

He said: "He accepts that what he did was wrong. In fairness to him, he sees this incident towards his partner as a one-off."

Harrison had made up with his girlfriend, the lawyer added.

The lawyer said the former WBO featherweight champion accepted he had an alcohol problem and was getting help, adding that a custodial sentence would not address this issue.

And he urged the sheriff: "In the circumstances, I would invite your ladyship to give him a chance, give him probation and give him community service."

But Sheriff Sanderson said her only option was to jail the boxer.

She handed him two two-month sentences for assaulting his girlfriend and a two-month sentence for assaulting a police officer to run concurrently.

Later, Harrison appeared at the same court over a separate drink-driving incident.

He spent the weekend behind bars after police stopped him at 9pm on Laurieston Road in the Gorbals. The court heard he had gone for a drink at 5pm at Sharkeys Bar. A member of the public spotted him driving erratically several hours later and called the police.

Officers stopped and gave him a breath test, which found he was over the limit.

They found he had 137 micrograms of alcohol in his breath per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.

He also faced a second charge over breaking a curfew imposed as a bail condition.

Mr McWilliams said the boxer had gone for a drink after training and then made a "misjudged decision" by getting in his car.

"He went for a drink on his way home and ended up staying longer than anticipated," he said.

"He realises he's required to go home by a certain time.

"He thereafter makes another misjudged decision to go on his way home.He's on his way home and he's stopped by the police."

Mr McWilliams told Sheriff Lindsay Wood, hearing the case, that it was the first motoring offence Harrison had committed since he started driving aged 17.

He urged the sheriff not to impose another custodial sentence, asking that the decision be deferred until Harrison had completed the first sentence.

He added Harrison now had "something positive in his life" – that he was living with his girlfriend, who was expecting a baby.

"They were living together and she's pregnant. He is aware he is going to be living away serving a prison sentence and that's a problem for him."

However, Sheriff Wood ignored the pleas and sentenced Harrison to six months in prison, telling him : "You were totally devoid of responsibility. You could have easily caused carnage in a built-up area of Glasgow. You should be utterly ashamed of yourself."

The decision is likely to delay court proceedings in Spain for an alleged double assault in 2006.