Family’s anger as driver who killed pensioner is spared jail

THE family of a woman who died after she was knocked off her mobility scooter reacted angrily yesterday after the driver who hit her was spared jail.

James Cook drove into Greta Lambie while she was on a zebra crossing.

The 75-year-old suffered severe head injuries and died two days later in hospital from a bleed on the brain.

The victim’s son and daughter claimed Cook, 77, of Sauchie, Clackmannanshire, should have been jailed.

At Falkirk Sheriff Court yesterday, Cook admitted causing death by careless driving and was banned for four years, fined £2,000 and ordered to resit his test. Sheriff John Mundy said it would not have been ‘appropriate’ to jail him over the collision, in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, in October last year.

He told Cook, a retired businessman, it was ‘a very sad case’.

But Mrs Lambie’s son, Hugh van Lierop, 54, described the sentence as ‘an affront to justice’.

He said: ‘The sheriff has just legalised murder by driving.

‘My mother was on a zebra crossing, going four miles an hour on a mobility scooter.

‘It’s an absolute disgrace. He should have gone to jail.’