'OUTSTANDING' DOCTOR IS JAILED FOR GIVING LSD TO PARTY GUESTS

A YOUNG doctor convicted of supplying LSD to an off-duty police constable
and other guests at a party was jailed for three months yesterday. Michael
McKenzie, 25, described as a dedicated professional who was destined for an
outstanding career, faces being struck off the medical register. Paisley
sheriff court was told that the policeman, Alexander Robertson, 24, suffered
such extreme hallucinations after he took a small "tab" of the drug that he
dialled 999 and said he had taken an overdose. Mr Robertson claimed that he
experienced nightmarish visions of his friends turning into werewolves and
zombies.

He was suspended from duty and resigned from Strathclyde Police in advance
of the trial.

Mr Robertson told the court that he had been given the drug by McKenzie, who
was formerly at Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital before becoming a senior
house officer specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology at Sunderland Royal
Hospital. The former policeman described in court how he left the party in
the early hours of the morning and went wandering the streets. "I began to
hear voices in my head and howling like in the film An American Werewolf in
London," he said. Everyone "looked like zombies". He returned to the party
where his hallucinations became so bad that he dialled 999 and reported that
he had overdosed. Police went to the house in Paisley, and took Mr
Robertson, who said he had gone to the party last July knowing there would
be drugs available, to hospital.

Mr Robertson told the court that the affair had "devastated my life and career."

Mckenzie, of Hawkhead Road, Paisley, denied five charges of supplying the
Class A drug to others.

At the close of the Crown case, two of the charges were dropped.

Finding McKenzie guilty, the sheriff, Neil Douglas, said that although it
had been difficult to distinguish fact from fantasy as Mr Robertson recalled
events, due to "the terrible consequences of what happened to him", he had
no reason to disbelieve his account and concluded he was telling the truth.

The court heard that partygoers had shared several cannabis "joints" and
cans of beer before the police arrived and began their investigation.
McKenzie, a Glasgow University graduate, claimed that he had taken
controlled substances once in his life, when he went on holiday to Amsterdam
in 1996. He denied that any drugs, especially LSD, had been in circulation
on the night of the party.

Edgar Prais, QC, defending, said McKenzie was highly regarded by senior
staff at Sunderland Royal Hospital. He was a man of "outstanding ability and
professional excellence". Appealing for leniency, Mr Prais said McKenzie had
a lot to offer the community at large and that although he still maintained
his innocence, the conviction had "shaken him to his boots and his life to
its roots". He had resigned from his position at Sunderland. He said
McKenzie, who came from a good, respectable family, had always been used to
plaudits and had paid a heavy price. "He has learned as bitter a lesson as
anyone possibly could," said Mr Prais.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett