A WOMAN told a court yesterday how she was forced to flee from the country estate of a former fellow student who allegedly tried to trap her during a reunion weekend.
Rebecca Keating, who wrote a published essay on Penguin books and Lady Chatterley's Lover, alleged that Joseph Irvin refused to allow her to leave his home after she rejected his advances.
Ms Keating, 27, managed to get the keys for her car and escape from Drumour farmhouse in Perthshire after spending a lavish weekend with Mr Irvin.
However, after an anonymous phone call to the police she was stopped a short time later and found to be over the legal limit for driving.
She gave a positive breath test at the roadside but refused to give a breath specimen when taken to police headquarters and was locked up overnight.
The bizarre details of the reunion weekend emerged at Perth Sheriff Court, where Ms Keating admitted failing to provide a specimen of breath on May 31 last year.
The recruitment consultant from Oxford was banned from driving for four years and fined pounds-600 by Sheriff Michael Fletcher, who noted she had a previous drink-driving conviction.
The court was told Ms Keating travelled by car to see Mr Irvin after an invitation to his home in Trochry, Dunkeld, last spring. Her visit was the first time the couple had seen each other in five years after having a brief fling while they were students at Brookes University in Oxford.
During the weekend, Ms Keating and Mr Irvin enjoyed a series of lunch and dinner dates at exclusive restaurants in St Andrews and Gleneagles hotel.
Hannah Kennedy, depute procurator-fiscal, said police became involved soon after Ms Keating left Mr Irvin's home on the morning of May 31.
James Morris, solicitor, defending Ms Keating, told the court Mr Irvin was someone with whom his client had been involved some years previously.
The solicitor said: "It seems her visit was misinterpreted by this gentleman who thought there was some prospect of romantic involvement. Despite her protestations to the contrary he continued to think in those terms.
"Things became more difficult because he refused to allow her to leave him and he withheld her car keys and refused to release these to her.
"She became increasingly distressed by this course of conduct and on the morning in question she was able to recover the car keys while this gentleman was sleeping and made her escape from the property.
The lawyer added: "It was not without difficulty because the party woke up. There was an altercation. She was assaulted and at one stage, barred from leaving the premises."
Mr Irvin, clad in his tartan pyjamas, allegedly got into his Mercedes and moved it round the driveway to try to block Ms Keating's exit.
At one point during the course of the weekend, Ms Keating had her host's gun and accidentally shot out the window of his Land Rover.
Mr Morris added: "She was eventually able to leave the area. Her condition was one of considerable distress and upset.
Her only objective was to return home to Oxford.
"As regards the failure to give a breath specimen, her condition was such that she was not thinking clearly. She was in a state of upset and emotional turmoil.
"She spent an evening and morning in police custody - an experience she found extremely unpleasant."
Ms Keating, who was accompanied to court by her father, declined to comment outside the court. Mr Irvin was unavailable for comment at his home after the case.
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