Speedboat victim to blame for crash deaths of couple

‘Parents didn’t deserve this’

A SUSPECTED puppy smuggler who died in a speedboat accident was to blame for the deaths of an elderly couple in an earlier road accident, an inquest has heard.

Giovanni Coppolaro, 85, and wife Maria, 83, died in July 2015 when Sandy Hamilton overtook a lorry at a bend and hit their car. Their son Gennaro, 56, who was driving, survived.

Hamilton, 35, was due to face trial charged with causing death by dangerous driving but he died along with his cousin Kevin McKinlay, 46, in May.

The pair launched the vessel from Port Logan, Wigtownshire, and their bodies were found in the water the next day.

The Coppolaros had driven from St Ives, Cambridgeshire, to attend a funeral when a VW Golf driven by Hamilton, of Larkhall, Lanarkshire, hit their Jaguar on the A73 at Newhouse, Lanarkshire.

Now an inquest into their deaths held in Huntingdon has heard he was responsible for the couple’s deaths.

A report by the procurator fiscal to the inquest said: ‘The accused must take full responsibility for causing this crash.’

Coroner David Heming concluded the pair died as a result of a road collision.

Afterwards Mr Coppolaro said: ‘My parents didn’t deserve what happened to them.’

After Hamilton’s death it emerged that both he and McKinlay were known to police in connection with the illegal trade of puppies from Ireland.

BBC footage broadcast last year showed Hamilton being stopped on a ferry from Northern Ireland. Puppies were found hidden in his car boot.