I graduated in 2004 with a 2:1 in Electronic Engineering. I tried a masters back in 2006, but due to disillusionment with the course and family circumstances, I did not complete.
My career looked like it was taking off a couple of years ago with a technical support role a couple of years ago. However, with the death of mother, I have taken on the role of carer for my father (he is 94).
I am now considering whether or not a part-time PhD would be viable: would I be consider suitable, has it been too long since I graduated , no evidence of successfully continuing in engineering since 2008.
During my undergraduate degree, I did well with the project side and I very much enjoyed this aspect of my studies. My final project was of my own conception.
I do understand that the part-time PhD is a considerable undertaking.

I don't think it's been too long and it's definitley worth looking into. Will you be self-funding -part-time PhDs usually are? If you can do some catch up reading in the literature and approach suitable supervisors with some knowledge of their topic area and perhaps some ideas to work with then you should do fine.

I hope it works out for you. I have done quite a bit of family-care and definitely needed an outlet just for for me to balance the situation.

Thanks for the reply Smilodon.
I would hope to find at least partial funding, but family members said they would help (hopefully!!!).

I would say definitely go for it! if it's what you really want to do, then your enthusiasm for the subject will go a long way. don't worry about the time since you graduated - if you do lots of reading around the area you want to do research in so that you have good knowledge of new developments/technologies etc, then you should still be in with a chance! often work experience since you graduated can count for a lot, as you will have learnt new skills that will help you through a phd (not necessarily things related to your topic, but more general skills such as time management, project planning etc that supervisors are looking for).

best of luck! ;-)