Driver who ran over and killed man six weeks after passing test escapes jail

A NEW driver who killed a recently retired man and severely injured his wife just six weeks after passing her test has escaped a jail sentence.

Samantha Goff ploughed her Mini Cooper into Alan McBain while he was out walking with wife Dawn on a country road in January last year.

The novice driver lost control of her car as she came round a bend and struck the husband and wife on the unclassified road between South Queensferry and Kirkliston.

Alan suffered head, chest and abdominal injuries and died around an hour after being struck while wife Dawn had a broken spine, broken ribs and a collapsed lung. She is now in constant pain and is forced to use a walking stick.

Alan McBain (60) tragically lost his life following a road accident near Dalmeny

Goff, of South Queensferry, passed her driving test on December 14, 2016 and the accident occurred six weeks later on January 30, 2017.

The 23-year-old admitted causing the death of Alan McBain and severe injury to Dawn McBain by driving without due care and attention when she appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month and she returned for sentencing yesterday. (TUES)

Sheriff Donald Corke told the sales assistant she had robbed Alan of “a long and happy retirement” and that his “whole family has been affected” by the collision.

Sheriff Corke sentenced Goff to a 12-month community payback order as a direct alternative to custody consisting of her carrying 200 hours of unpaid work.

Goff is also banned from driving for two years and will have to sit the extended test before she is allowed back on the road.

Previously the court heard Alan McBain had retired from his position as a security officer at Edinburgh Airport just four weeks before the accident.

He was out walking with wife Dawn on Standingstane Road, near the village of Dalmeny, and were struck by the oncoming Goff in her blue Mini Cooper at around 11.40am on January 30 last year.

Fiscal Iain Gray of the Road accident Fatalities Investigation Unit said following the impact Goff’s vehicle became “airborne and landed in a field”.

He said it was Goff who had immediately called the emergency services and was said to be in a “hysterical and distressed” state telling the call handler she had “crashed into two people”.

The fiscal added Goff told a witness she “came round the corner and the couple were right there in front of me” and that she had tried to swerve but had struck both of them.

The court also heard the driving conditions that day were described as being “good” with “no visual obstructions” and that Alan and Dawn were walking eastbound towards the traffic in single file.

A subsequent Police Scotland collision investigation could not prove conclusively the speed Goff was driving at when she struck the keen walkers but it was estimated at between 40 and 50mph. The speed limit on the road is 60mph.

The court was also told following the collision Dawn McBain was taken to hospital with “life changing injuries” and continues to suffer pain today and has no recollection of the collision.

She is forced to use a walking stick and has metal rods and screws inserted in her back and pins and screws in her leg which will be in place permanently.

Yesterday, Cameron Tait, defending, said his client had showed “genuine and deep remorse” over the crash and currently “struggles to come to terms with the catastrophic consequences” of her driving.

The brief added: “This was not a prolonged course of bad driving and alcohol played no part in this incident.”