Killer driver spent 24 years on roads without a licence but is spared jail
A SALESMAN who caused the death of a Scots mother by driving the wrong way up a busy road has been spared a prison sentence.
Leeanne Aitken, 45, died at the scene of the head-on crash caused by David MacDonald in Livingston, West Lothian.
It later emerged that MacDonald had only a provisional driving licence, yet had been driving for almost a quarter of a century.
The 43-year-old appeared for sentence at the High Court in Stirling after a jury in Livingston previously found him guilty of causing death by careless driving.
MacDonald, of Paisley, had originally been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, but the jury convicted him of the lesser charge. The court heard he had offered to plead guilty to the lesser charge from the outset.
He also admitted obtaining motor insurance by fraud.
Mrs Aitken, from Livingston, was driving a friend home from work on January 8, 2020, when MacDonald’s Audi Q7 crashed into her Ford Mondeo on the town’s A705.
The impact pushed the Mondeo’s engine into its passenger compartment. Mrs Aitken suffered catastrophic injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her 19-year-old passenger, Sofia Crichton, suffered severe head injuries, broken bones and multiple fractures. She spent ten weeks in hospital recovering.
By chance, Mrs Aitken’s son Graham Tait, 24, had been following his mother’s car because he wanted to break the good news that he had been offered a new job. He was one of the first people at the crash scene.
Judge Lord Lake said he took into account a victim impact statement from Graham’s younger brother Daniel. He told MacDonald: ‘This sets out his anguish at losing his mother. I must, however, consider what actions on your part led to this.
‘Your evidence was that it arose from a belief on your part that you were on a dual carriageway when you undertook an overtaking manoeuvre. Your speed was clearly not excessive, and the jury’s verdict indicates they accepted your explanation.’
He added: ‘Before imposing a prison sentence, I would have to be satisfied that there was no other appropriate disposal. Had it not been for your offer to plead guilty, I would have been inclined to impose a prison sentence.’
MacDonald, who passed his driving test in 1996 but never got round to swapping his provisional licence for a full one, was ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work and banned from driving for six years. He was also fined £4,500 for fraud after lying about holding a full licence to get insurance.
MacDonald wept after the sentence was announced.
Scottish Tory justice spokesman Jamie Greene said: ‘The SNP’s soft-touch justice system has meant that another criminal has been put first instead of the victim and their loved ones.
‘Despite causing the death of an innocent mother, they have shockingly avoided a jail sentence. We’ve repeatedly exposed the failures of the SNP’s community sentencing policies where many unpaid hours aren’t even carried out.’