'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 Roberston 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: "Rolf Ernst"