Lawyer, 71, killed after hitting deer on his bike

A LAWYER has died after crashing into a deer while out cycling on a country road.

William Baillie, known as Lamont, was descending a hill near his home when he hit the animal on Saturday.

The 71-year-old was taken to Wishaw General Hospital after being found by a passer-by around 8.30pm, but Mr Baillie died in the early hours of Sunday.

Neighbours of Mr Baillie, who lived in Biggar, Lanarkshire, described him as a ‘shy’ man who had been a long-standing partner in Motherwell-based law firm Ness Gallagher Solicitors.

Ness Gallagher partner Graham Keys tweeted: ‘My friend and colleague Lamont Baillie has sadly and suddenly died. If you ever met Lamin ont you will remember him. If you didn’t, I’m sorry that you will not now have that privilege. He was a one-off and I will miss him greatly.’

A neighbour who did not wish to be named described Mr Baillie, a former Scout leader, as a ‘very keen cyclist and a good neighbour’.

Andrew Wilson, the economist and former Nationalist MSP, said Mr Baillie was ‘a serious and good person who worked to bring up young talent’.

Mr Baillie had served for a number of years as the leader of the now defunct 7th Wishaw Scout troop. He was not married and did not have any children.

NatureScot, the government agency, said: ‘It is estimated that collisions between deer and vehicles could be as high as 9,000 per year

Scotland, resulting in 50 to 100 human injuries.’

A spokesman for the Deer Vehicle Collisions in Scotland Monitoring Project said: ‘Although many people think most accidents with deer and vehicles occur on more remote Highland roads, in Scotland at least 40 per cent are recorded on A-class trunk roads or motorways.

‘Roe deer, in particular, have become well established in the urban fringes of many major towns and have also spread into parks and other green spaces close to the centre of cities such as Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.’

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: ‘We can confirm that a 71-yearold man was struck by a deer in South Lanarkshire while cycling at 8.30pm on Saturday.

‘He was taken to Wishaw General Hospital where he died in the early hours of Sunday. A report has been submitted to the procurator fiscal.’

Last year, Mr Baillie successfully represented Strathclyde theme park M&D’s in a dispute with police over licensing.

Police had recommended the park’s public entertainment licence be revoked, which would have meant the closure of the attraction, after a rollercoaster crash in 2016 in which ten people were injured.

However, councillors gave their unanimous backing to the operators of the park after an address by Mr Baillie.

He said: ‘This is a conscientious firm which gives safety paramount consideration and employs its own health and safety inspector.

‘The committee was satisfied M&D’s has done everything humanly possible to comply with Health and Safety Executive requirements.’

‘A serious and good person’