Drunken Falmouth skipper given suspended sentence

A Falmouth pleasure boat skipper who was found to be almost four times over the legal alcohol limit while in charge of a tourist vessel has been given a suspended sentence.

David Pill, 40, of Tresillian Road, Falmouth, was spared jail and handed a three-month suspended prison sentence after he was found guilty late last month.

He was found to be four times over the legal drink-drive limit when he was skippering the Lady Elizabeth from the Prince of Wales Pier last year. Pill, who has held a master's licence for about 20 years, admitted he had consumed most of a 75cl bottle of vodka in a 25-minute period after returning the vessel to its mooring and rowing back to Prince of Wales pier, but claimed he had done so only after the engines had been stopped and he was no longer the master.

The defense argued that there was no evidence that alcohol had had any discernible effect on Pill during the day.

Judge Erik Salomonsen said: "It is a mercy you did not find yourself confronted by any serious emergency while on the water.

"You should have been sober and fit for the job and clearly you were not."

Pill was given a three-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months and the condition that he continues to live in Tresillian Road for a year. He will also lose his master's licence and no order was made as to costs.