Father reveals pain and anguish

Natalie, Matthew and Shirley Braithwaite

A South Yorkshire man has revealed how the conviction of a drunk driver who killed his family has made him realise the depth of his loss.

Drunk driver Justin Elder pleaded guilty to causing the deaths of three members of the Braithwaite family and has been jailed for 10 years.

Elder, from Inverness, was driving the car which hit the family as they walked in the fishing village of Gairloch in the Scottish Highlands on a summer afternoon last year.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Elder, who had drunk eight pints of lager and two vodkas before the accident, admitted culpable homicide.

He had killed Shirley Braithwaite, 51, her 22-year-old daughter Natalie and her 19-year-old son Matthew.

Passing sentence, Judge Roderick Macdonald QC said it was a lamentable episode which had taken the lives of three innocent people.

Mrs Braithwaite's husband Kenneth survived because he was walking some distance behind and saw his family being killed.

Elder had been drinking beer and vodka

After the case Mr Braithwaite issued a statement saying: "Hearing evidence in court this morning has again made me realise the depth of my loss.

"In particular of my two children who were young and had everything to live for.

"No one has any answers on how to stop people drink-driving and I can only hope that what happened to Shirley, Natalie and Matthew at the hands of a drunk driver will make others think twice."

The family had been due to return home from their Highland holiday the following day.

They were walking through the village when Elder lost control of his speeding car and ploughed into them.

All three were thrown into a field by the force of the impact.

The court heard that staff in the bar in Gairloch had twice prevented Elder from driving by taking the car keys from him.

However, he returned with a friend. His friend took the car and then changed seats with Elder.