Mercy plea wins lenient three-year sentence for driver who killed five

A JUDGE has imposed "the most lenient sentence possible" – three years and four months in prison – on a motorist whose dangerous driving caused the deaths of five people.

Lord Brailsford told Ewan Macpherson, 22, that a "remarkable" plea for mercy from the mother of his girlfriend, who was one of the victims, had helped save him from a heavier prison term. Tamara Webster, whose daughter Tanya died, had hoped he might be spared jail, and after the case she and her husband, Alan, made another plea.

Mr Webster said: "We will never get over the loss of Tanya but, hopefully, any young driver watching this will take extra care when they next get behind the wheel of a car."

He added that there had been no winners in court, because no sentence could equal the guilt felt by Macpherson.

"He is not a maniac, but someone who made a dreadful mistake, which resulted in our and others' terrible loss."

Macpherson, 21, tried to overtake late at night on the approach to a blind summit, and his car hit a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction.

Tanya Webster and Donna Miller, both 19, from Crieff, had been passengers in Macpherson's Vauxhall Corsa and they were killed instantly.

A couple, William and Allison Melville, and their son, also William, of Methven, near Perth, were in the other vehicle. Mrs Melville, 60, and her son, 33, died at the scene. Her husband, 67, who had been driving, died in hospital.

Macpherson, a sales assistant, of Auchterarder, Perthshire, admitted causing the deaths by driving dangerously on 27 January last year on the A85 Perth-Crieff road, about a mile west of the Keillour junction. The offence carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.

The advocate-depute, Alan Mackay, told the High Court in Edinburgh that Macpherson's car had crossed a continuous white line before the summit at an estimated 60mph.

Macpherson was pulled from the flaming wreckage with his legs alight. He suffered severe burns and remained in hospital for several months.

The defence counsel, Peter Gray, QC, said Macpherson was a "respectable and decent individual". He had no criminal record and a clean driving licence.

"He was not showing off. He made a fatal error. He accepts he must have crossed the white line. The consequences could not have been more catastrophic."

Mr Gray submitted a reference from Tamara Webster, calling it a remarkable document showing extraordinary compassion.

He recognised, as did Macpherson, that jail was inevitable. However, the letter was the "most compelling confirmation of the many qualities of Ewan Macpherson".

Lord Brailsford said the accident had been tragic in the extreme, and it was impossible adequately to comprehend the suffering of the victims' families. "While the consequences are horrific, it has to be appreciated that this was one act of dangerous driving. This was not a case where there was any aggravation, for example … consumption of alcohol, racing other cars or the like," added the judge.

He told Macpherson: "It is apparent you feel a deep sense of responsibility. I feel able, exceptionally, to impose as lenient a sentence as is possible."

Macpherson was also banned from driving for ten years.

How the law determines what charges should apply to fatal crash

WHILE every fatal road crash is a tragedy, the law has to recognise that some are "worse" than others.

And as this case illustrates, it is not merely a question of counting the number of deceased to see where in the spectrum the particular accident lies.

At the one end, you might have the driver of an ice-cream van reversing into a cul-de-sac and, not having checked his mirror properly, striking a toddler. The death of a youngster is bound to evoke huge public sympathy, but the law looks at the quality of the driving and the driver would almost certainly face the least serious motoring offence, careless driving, which does not carry a jail sentence.

At the other extreme was the case last year in which a four-year-old girl was killed in Edinburgh by a "maniac" under the influence of drugs, whose 4x4 was a "death trap" with defective brakes and who drove without any thought for the safety of others and had caused other accidents before fatally striking the girl. His offence was deemed so bad that the charge was culpable homicide, one step down from murder. Anything up to a life sentence could be imposed.

Yesterday's case had five deaths, but the cause was a single misjudgment – crossing a full white line on the approach to the brow of a hill. It was more than mere carelessness, elevating it to the middle rank of "dangerous" driving, for which the accused had faced a maximum term of 14 years.