Families launch bid to prosecute driver over student death crash
THE families of two students knocked down and killed by a driver with a history of blackouts have launched a bid for a rare private prosecution of the man they blame for the deaths.
The move comes after some of the families of those killed in the Glasgow bin lorry tragedy began a similar legal action earlier this week against the driver, Harry Clarke, who also blacked out at the wheel.
In the latest case, the families of the two students have spoken of their goal to ‘prevent other families from suffering in the same way as we have’.
The attempts at private prosecutions are a blow for the Crown Office which has been criticised for failing to prosecute the drivers in both cases.
Mhairi Convy, 18, and Laura Stewart, 20, were walking in North Hanover Street in Glasgow on December 17, 2010 when a Range Rover apparently l ost control, mounted the kerb and hit them.
William Payne, who was 50 at the time of the crash, appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court in November 2012 accused of causing death by driving while uninsured but charges against him were dropped the following November.
A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) was held i n 2014 and Sheriff Andrew Normand found five ‘reasonable precautions’ could have prevented the accident, which happened after Mr Payne suffered a ‘vasovagal episode’ and temporarily lost consciousness, losing control of the vehicle.
The families of Miss Convy and Miss Stewart have consistently called for Mr Payne to face a criminal trial. A ‘Bill of Criminal Letters’ – effectively an indictment – has now been delivered to the Crown Office on their behalf.
Relatives of Miss Convy and Miss Stewart attended part of the bin lorry crash FAI last year in support of the victims’ families.
A Crown Office spokesman said: ‘The Crown position on this will be made clear to the families and the court when appropriate.’
A statement from the Convy and Stewart families at the end of the FAI in 2014 said: ‘It is in the gift of the Crown to see justice served and send a message to the wider public that such conduct will not be tolerated.’
As in the case of Mr Clarke, Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, QC, now has a week to decide whether to give the green l i ght to a prosecution.
If he rejects the move, a hearing would be held in front of High Court j udges t o determine whether or not i t should go ahead.