Death crash ‘leniency’

A GRIEVING family yesterday told of their disappointment at the ‘leniency’ of the sentence of a woman found guilty of causing the death of their mother by driving carelessly.

Rachel Forsyth, 21, knocked down Lillian Morrison, who was crossing Queens Road in Aberdeen to get to her sheltered housing home.

The student failed to see the 79year-old and only realised she had hit someone when the windscreen of her black Vauxhall Corsa smashed.

Mrs Morrison died at the scene of the accident two days after Christmas in 2012.

Forsyth was found guilty by a major- ity jury verdict last month at the High Court in Aberdeen. Sentencing was deferred until yesterday for reports.

Judge Lord Turnbull said that he did not believe a custodial sentence was appropriate.

He banned Forsyth, from Westhill, Aberdeenshire, from driving for a year and ordered her to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work under a community payback order.

Outside court, Mrs Morrison’s daughter, Patricia Dowell, said: ‘We are disappointed at the leniency of the sentence.’