A driver who caused a fatal head-on road crash that resulted in a Moray motorcyclist being killed has been spared prison.
James Munro, from Burghead, was overtaking a car on the B9089 Kinloss to Burghead road near Roseisle when he drove into the motorbike being ridden by Euan Slater, from Elgin.
Yesterday, Elgin Sheriff Court heard the 34-year-old did not see the bike coming in the opposite the direction.
The stevedore was spared prison after his defence team explained he had been “full of remorse” following the horror crash on November 25 last year.
Following the hearing, Mr Slater’s mother, Laura Lauder, branded the decision as “a joke”.
Fiscal David Barclay explained Mr Slater, 21, had left his cousin’s home in Hopeman at about 7pm to get a takeaway.
At the same time, Munro was travelling from Alves behind a car being driven by Margaret Colloton.
The Burghead dad-of-two initially straddled the centre-line of the road before deciding to overtake, despite Mrs Colloton seeing the light of a motorcycle travelling towards them.
Mr Barclay said: “The motorcycle and the accused’s car collided head on. The motorbike was thrown backwards, sliding along the carriageway.
“Mr Slater went over the handlebars and struck the windscreen.”
Mr Barclay described Munro as being “hysterical” at the scene following the collision.
Advocate David Moggach said: “My client continues to show a deep remorse about the incident. He has not coped well himself. It’s something he will never forget and he will have to live with the consequences.”
Sheriff Olga Pasportnikov accepted Munro had displayed a “momentary lapse of concentration”.
Munro, of Fraser Road in Burghead, was sentenced to 300 hours of unpaid work and banned from driving for four years after admitting driving without due care and attention by attempting to overtake when it was unsafe to do so, which caused the accident that killed Mr Slater.