Courage of Motor Neurone Disease sheriff who refuses to quit... but jokes he 'sounds like a dalek'

Presiding over a court of law, he relies on his voice to hand down sentences to offenders.

But sheriff Alastair Carmichael is slowly being robbed of his ability to speak after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

The 61-year-old has now turned to AI technology to enable him to continue to sit on the bench at Dundee Sheriff Court - although he admits to those in the dock it may sound like they are being sentenced by a Dalek.

The fictional alien species from BBC sci-fi show Doctor Who are renowned for their distinct electronic grating voices.

But modern text-to-speech technology means the sheriff can still be heard in court months after being diagnosed with the progressive muscle wasting disease, which claimed the life of Scotland rugby legend Doddie Weir two years ago.

Using a special app, he can type in words or phrases which are then played out loud in a synthetic voice.

Sheriff Carmichael, who was diagnosed in February after developing a lisp, said: 'I actually asked one guy who I was sentencing if it sounded like they were being sentenced by a Dalek.

'I suppose if you can keep a bit of a sense of humour it can become less scary.'

In time he hopes a more advanced app will allow him to have conversations in real time and he is even practicing touch-typing to help make that a reality.

The sheriff, whose own voice is now slurred and laboured, admitted that it was uncharted territory for the judicial system.

But speaking to the Courier newspaper, he said: 'One thing I've found with this is you start re-evaluating a lot of things and you really have to be adaptable, so I'm having to adapt to a variety of things and the lawyers here, defence and prosecution, the staff, are also adapting to me a bit, which is very helpful.'

The illness has meant the sheriff has not been able to preside over jury trials, but he remains 'reasonably hopeful' that he will again, although he admits he will have to consider how to keep jurors engaged with a synthetic voice.

But the challenges of how to continue his work, he said, had 'actually taken my mind off MND in a sense'.

He added: 'It's not about what can't I do, but what can I do?'

'I feel I'm still contributing and I'm therefore performing a worthwhile role, and it gives me some self-respect.

'I try very much to keep a positive attitude. With that on my part, and with the positivity and willingness to adapt from an employer, good things can happen.'