The mother of a north-east schoolboy who was knocked off his bike and killed is calling for a fatal accident inquiry to be held into the tragedy.
Connor Shields died as he and his friends cycled home from a day out in Collieston in the summer holidays four years ago.
He was hit by a car at the crossroads of the A975 Newburgh to Cruden Bay and B9003 Collieston roads on July 17, 2013.
The 14-year-old, from Ellon, was airlifted to hospital but could not be saved.
The Crown has never pursued charges against the driver of the car, but the Press and Journal can today reveal that Connor’s family launched civil proceedings against him, and reached an out-of-court settlement earlier this year.
Last night, Connor’s mother Janet said the compensation would never bring her son back, but had helped pay for an independent collision investigator to look into circumstances of the tragic crash.
Mrs Shields is unhappy with the way the case was handled, and has lodged complaints with the Scottish Police Complaints Board, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), and the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman in her determination to get “justice” for Connor.
“Just because he was 14, don’t assume that he was to blame,” she said.
Now she is calling for a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) to be held, after the independent crash report – compiled by forensic collision inspector Graham Oakley – showed what was claimed to be “discrepancies” with the police investigation.
She also believes Aberdeenshire Council should be held to account, as she alleges it failed to keep the crossroads safe by allowing the verges to become overgrown.
The Crown has so far ruled out the need for an FAI, but told Mrs Shields it would look again if “new information” came to light.
She now believes she has found that, after noticing differences in the Crown and police reports regarding the witness statements.
She said: “There was a sentence in the witness statement from the police read out to me at the procurator fiscal’s office which said Connor crossed over to the main road, saw the car and started to double back on himself in an S-shape and then began to lose control of his bike.
“That would have taken six, seven, eight seconds – long enough for the driver to have seen him.
“The bit about him losing control wasn’t in the police report though. I don’t know what else was in the fiscal’s report that wasn’t in the police report.”
Mrs Shields, a former police officer herself, who lives with husband Ken and daughter Rebecca, said she felt the police quickly made up their mind that Connor was to blame for the crash.
Earlier this month, she met with two of the roads policing team in Inverurie to go over her complaint, which is still being looked into.
“I just want people to know Connor wasn’t 100% to blame and be remembered the way he was,” she added.
A spokesman for the Crown Office said: “The procurator fiscal received a report in connection with the death of a 14-year-old boy on the A975 Cruden Bay road on July 17, 2013.
“After careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, Crown Counsel concluded that this was a tragic accident and that it would not be appropriate to hold a FAI.
“The procurator fiscal has met with the family and explained the reasons for the decision.”
Inspector Jon Barron, from the roads policing unit, said: “We have been in close contact with Mrs Shields in relation to reviewing concerns she has about the way this case was handled at the time.
“Because these concerns are subject to review, it would be inappropriate to make any further comment meantime.
“However, I will keep Mrs Shields fully updated throughout.”
SIMILARITIES
Mrs Shields believes there are similarities between Connor’s crash and another in which two women died and which was subject to a fatal accident inquiry.
Ruth MacDonald was heading along the A97 Banff to Aberdeen road when she got lost and drove through an unclassified junction, ploughing into a van at 30mph.
Her mother, Susan MacLennan, 64, and aunt, Catriona Robertson, 72, died. After an FAI, a sheriff criticised Aberdeenshire Council’s roads department for failing to maintain road markings.
He said the council did not have a “reliable, robust and effective system” for inspecting and repairing road markings. Sheriff Patrick Davies ruled the accident and deaths may have been avoided if the council had ensured road markings at the junction were properly maintained and readily visible.
Mrs Shields believes if an FAI was held into Connor’s death, the local authority would again be reprimanded for failing to make the roads safe.
She has repeatedly called for better signs warning of the hidden dip on the A975, as well as stop markings at the crossroads instead of the give way.
She also claims that the council has not ensured the grass verges are kept cut back to assist visibility at the junction.
The council has previously insisted the dip in the road was not an issue for visibility at the crossing – and said the site does not meet the “strict criteria” for a stop sign.
Connor got a flat tyre and fell back from the group. His mum believes he did not see the Volvo approaching due to a hidden dip in the road, combined with the overgrown grass verges. A spokesman for Aberdeenshire Council said: “We are sympathetic to Janet Shield’s concerns, however we do take our responsibility for road safety seriously.
“We have updated our procedures for recording road maintenance activity.”