Apology for tragic family’s 12 years of agony
SCOTLAND’S Lord Advocate has apologised to a family who waited for almost 12 years to find out there would be no inquiry into why five of their loved ones were killed in a causeway disaster.
Three generations of one family died when their cars were swept into the sea as they fled floods caused by a massive storm on the Western Isles in January 2005.
Calum Campbell, 67, his 37-year-old daughter Murdina and her husband Archie MacPherson, 36, died along with the couple’s children Hannah, five, and seven-year-old Andrew as they tried to make their way from South Uist to Benbecula.
They were driving close to the causeway linking the islands when their two vehicles were washed into the sea.
And yesterday the Lord Advocate James Wolffe admitted there had been ‘unacceptable’ delays that added to relatives’ grief.
The Crown Office decided to delay a decision about a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) until a report on the causeway was published. That was not made public until 2012 and, in October last year, the Crown Office finally said no FAI would be held as it was decided it would not provide any further information about the cause of the deaths.
Relatives claim they were told by prosecutors at one point that they were ‘too busy’ to deal with the case. Family member Angus MacIntyre said: ‘If an FAI was to say that the road flooded because of the causeway, surely that would strengthen the case for the bridge we want so that nothing like this happens again.’
In a letter to Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil, the Lord Advocate said the investigation of the tragic deaths ‘was not completed as expeditiously as it should have been and was characterised by delays which I regard as unacceptable.’
He added: ‘That will inevitably have caused further distress to the family and I have written to them to express my sincere apologies for that.’
Last night television director Neil Campbell, 49, who lost his father and sister, insisted the community wanted an FAI.
He said: ‘We are still devastated. I’m not over it, none of us are over it. It had a massive effect on the community who searched for them and found their bodies.
‘There are lessons to be learned when you lose five members of the same family. Nothing has changed. People who live in that area are still living in fear – and that needs addressing.’
‘We are still devastated’