FAI to be held into death of footballer

A FATAL accident inquiry is to be held next month into a crash that killed the captain of a Scottish football club.

Dumbarton's Gordon Lennon died after the Land Rover he was a passenger in hit an electricity pole on the Brahan Estate near Dingwall in Easter Ross on 7 June. He survived the crash, but it is thought he was electrocuted when he escaped from the car.

The 26-year-old Northern Ireland-born player, who lived in Paisley, Renfrewshire, was taking a weekend break with his family just weeks after leading his club to the Irn-Bru Third Division title. He had decided to try off-road driving while his fiancee, Kelly Dempsey, and their five-month-old son Kai were at the beach.

It is believed the impact of the crash snapped a heavy wooden electricity pole, bringing down a high voltage line, which wrapped around the Land Rover, turning it into a fireball. Lennon crawled free, but was hit with 33,000 volts from the power line.

Paramedics tried to revive him as firefighters tackled the blaze, which had spread to bushes on the 4,000-acre estate. However, Lennon later died at Raigmore Hospital, Inverness.

The inquiry will be held at Dingwall Sheriff Court on 20 September. At the time, it was claimed the power line was accidentally reactivated after automatically shutting down, prompting a Health and Safety Executive inquiry.