A retired vicar touring the Highlands in a campervan was killed when a scaffolding board that was protruding from a passing pickup truck crashed through his windscreen.
Philip Walker, 72, was driving with his wife on the Isle of Lewis between Barvas and Leurbost in September 2019 when the tragedy occurred.
The driver of the truck, 54-year-old Donald Maclean, of Sandwick, near Stornoway, has now pleaded guilty to causing Mr Walker’s death by careless driving.
Inverness Sheriff Court was told a rope holding the boards snapped causing one of them to slide over the side of the truck and protrude almost a metre into the opposite carriageway of the A858.
Sheriff Gary Aitken was told that although another motorist saw the danger and contacted the police, Mr Maclean travelled another mile and a half without checking his mirror and the fatal incident occurred.
Vicar flown to hospital by air ambulance
Fiscal depute Niall Macdonald said: “Mrs Walker heard a bang and saw her husband was injured. She pulled on the handbrake to stop the campervan.”
She attempted to find help from houses nearby without success but a passing motorist stopped to assist and phoned 999, Mr Macdonald told the court.
Maclean returned down the road having heard the bang and saw that the board was loose when he checked the load in a layby.
He provided a first aid kit at the scene.
Mr Macdonald said: “Mr Walker was flown to Western Isles Hospital in an air ambulance where doctors determined his head injury was untreatable and he died in the early hours of September 12.
“Mr Maclean’s mobile phone was seized by the police to check if he was using it at the time. He wasn’t but it contained a message to a friend: ‘I am absolutely devastated. That poor man and his family.’
“A police reconstruction found that Mr Walker had insufficient time to react.”
Family’s praise for local community
Mr Macdonald went on to say that the police reconstruction further found that the board could be seen often in Maclean’s wing mirror despite it being partly dirty.
In the days after the tragedy, Mr Walker’s family – who are from Anglesey in North Wales – released a statement through Police Scotland.
They said: “We are grateful for everybody who assisted at the scene, the love and support provided by staff at Western Isles Hospital and the assistance provided by the wider community in the Isle of Lewis in the days following.”
Maclean admitted causing death by careless driving by not checking his wing mirror often enough.
His counsel, Ronald Renucci KC, told Sheriff Gary Aitken: “My client has asked me to express his deep sorrow and apologies to the family. He accepts full responsibility for this.
“He is suffering from cancer. It is unlikely he will ever drive again and any period of disqualification is likely to outlive him.”
‘Nothing I can do can turn the clock back’
Mr Renucci said his client wanted to plead guilty and recalled his words: “This would be on my conscience if it did not conclude. Putting Mrs Walker through a trial would be the worst thing I could do now.”
Mr Renucci added: “The consequences for her and her family are devastating and that is not lost on Mr Maclean.
“He must live every day with the knowledge that he caused the death of another because he did not make good use of his mirrors.”
Sheriff Aitken told the Walker family, who were in court today: “Nothing I can do can turn the clock back to bring Mr Walker back.”
‘This dreadful incident will weigh heavily on your conscience’
He then addressed Maclean, who sat in the dock wiping tears from his face: “Inattention at the wheel of any motor vehicle can have appalling life-long consequences.
“I have no doubt this dreadful incident will weigh heavily on your conscience.
“But I have to consider the nature of your driving, your previous driving history and good character and I can deal with this by way of a community payback order rather than a custodial sentence.
“However no sentence can put a value on Mr Walker’s life.”
Maclean was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid community work, banned from driving for four years and ordered to resit the extended driving test of competency.