Young driver killed friend after losing control in 80mph race

Jack Parkes, 20, was travelling at more than 80mph as he tried to keep ahead of another vehicle he had just overtaken and failed to negotiate a bend. His car smashed into a wall and somersaulted into a field. Passenger Mark Scott, 19, died instantly from internal injuries.

Mr Scott, of Torphins, Aberdeenshire, was an only child who had been about to start an apprenticeship as an aeronautical engineer, and the High Court in Edinburgh was told that his loss had devastated his family. His mother, Dorothy-Anne Scott, said: “Mark lost his life and I’ve lost everything of meaning in mine.”

His father, Brian Scott, added: “There is not one day which passes where I don’t think of him and miss him.”

Parkes, of Banchory, Aberdeenshire, admitted causing Mr Scott’s death by dangerous driving on 29 May last year on the A980 Alford-Banchory road near Raemoir, Aberdeenshire. Robbie Merchant, 25, also of Banchory, the driver of the other car, pled guilty to dangerous driving. Both will be sentenced later this month.

The court heard that Parkes and Mr Scott had not known Merchant, but met him that night through a mutual friend, Amy Garden. She got into Merchant’s black Citroën Saxo in Torphins around 10:30pm, and they headed to Banchory. Parkes and Mr Scott followed in the accused’s blue Mini Cooper S.

Parkes overtook the Saxo, and Merchant “had not liked it” and accelerated to keep up, with both vehicles reaching more than 80mph, said the advocate-depute, Martin Macari.

A witness was alerted by the sound of the cars and looked out of his cottage to see the vehicles “travelling at an excessive speed and… very close together.”

The Mini entered a bend but Parkes lost control, and the car struck a drystane wall and spun back across the road and overturned before landing on its side in a field. Moments later, the Saxo negotiated the bend and was met by “a large cloud of smoke”. It hit debris on the road, but Merchant was able to bring the car to a halt.

Police were on the scene quickly, and Parkes was seen lying beside his car. He was able to speak, but was not fully coherent and complained of pain in his ankle.

“The officer looked inside the vehicle and saw Mark Scott. He was not making any sound or moving, and the officer immediately formed the opinion that he had died,” said Mr Macari. Pathologists discovered that, among his injuries, Mr Scott’s aorta, a major artery, had been split.

Parkes required surgery for a broken ankle, and wore a hard collar until a fracture in his neck had healed.

Mr Macari said both drivers had negative breath tests, and crash investigators had concluded that “undoubtedly high speed, if not the primary factor is certainly a major factor in this incident”.

The judge, Lord Tyre, allowed both accused to remain on bail until sentencing but said Parkes, in particular, should not think anything other than a custodial sentence would be considered.