Jail for crash at 'crazy' speed that ended with two deaths

Published on Friday 6 November 2009 21:45

A DRIVER who caused an accident in which his partner and her mother died has been jailed for more than six years.

Stephen Macpherson, 45, was doing at least 90mph when he lost control on a humpback bridge in the Highlands and his car flew into the air and bounced across a field.

The scene of devastation left by the accident was likened by investigators to a plane crash.

Lynn Paterson, 41, was killed instantly, and her mother, Margaret McGarvie, 70, died from multiple injuries in hospital two days later.

Yesterday, Lord Menzies told Macpherson, of Troon, Ayrshire, that his "appallingly dangerous driving" had ended in tragedy.

"You were driving at a crazy speed on a minor road and continued at this speed over an obvious hazard… and despite warnings from your passengers to slow down," said the judge.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard Macpherson had previous convictions for drink-driving and dangerous driving, and Lord Menzies said he would have imposed a nine-year sentence, but allowed a discount because Macpherson had pleaded guilty to causing the deaths by dangerous driving.

Macpherson and Ms Paterson had moved to Easter Ross about a year before the crash. On 17 April, 2007, Ms Paterson collected a new car for the family, a Peugeot 406, from a garage in Inverness, and Macpherson took her out in it about 7:30pm.

Ms McGarvie, of Hurlford, Ayrshire, had been visiting her daughter and went on the trip, as did two girls, aged 15 and ten.

Part of the route was a long section of the B9163 known as the "Culicudden straight", which has a humpback bridge at one end. "As the accused drove along the straight, he began to accelerate," said the advocate-depute, Andrew Stewart, QC.

"The speed was such that the ten-year-old girl could hardly see anything outside the windows other than a 'blur'. Shortly before the bridge, she noted the speedometer was pointing between 110mph and 120mph. The older girl also looked at the speedometer and from where she was sitting saw it read 130mph."

Macpherson lost control as they crossed the bridge. The car became airborne and struck a dry-stone dyke and was thrown into a field. "The car bounced along the field, hitting the ground with some force at each turn. There were 11 deep gouges," said Mr Stewart.

"The collision investigator describes the scene he found as more like the scene of a small air crash, rather than a car crash. The investigators have calculated the car was travelling at 90mph by the time it hit the dyke."

The two girls were seriously injured, and the defence counsel, Mark Moir, said Macpherson suffered severe head injuries.

Lord Menzies said: "Nothing I can do by way of sentence can bring back Lynn Paterson and Margaret McGarvie.

"You have previous convictions suggesting a cavalier and dangerous attitude to road traffic laws."

Macpherson was jailed for six years, nine months and banned from driving for six years.