The fatal accident inquiry process into the tragic deaths of a couple who lay undiscovered following a car crash on the M9 near Bannockburn is to begin before Christmas.
Lamara Bell, 25, and John Yuill, 28, died after their Renault Clio left the motorway near Stirling and careered down an embankment in July 2015 as they were returning home to Falkirk from a camping trip.
Lamara was found lying critically injured next to John’s body after police took three days to act on a call from someone who reported seeing their car.
Lamara passed away from her injuries in hospital one week after the crash.
Police Scotland later confirmed that the original call was taken by an experienced officer at the Bilston Glen call centre, but never logged into the appropriate system to alert local police in Forth Valley.
A preliminary hearing for the FAI has now been set for December 16, more than seven years after the crash. A date for the full inquiry is yet to be announced.
Lamara Bell’s children, aged just five and 10 at the time of the crash, and her family have since been awarded financial compensation over the tragedy.
Last year Police Scotland was fined £100,000 after pleading guilty to health and safety failings over the incident.
The Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC last then ordered that the FAI be held into the deaths.
At that time Justin Farrell, Deputy Procurator Fiscal, Specialist Casework said: “The prosecution in this case was an important step which had to be taken before the holding of a FAI could be fully considered.
“The public interest will now be further served in a FAI to examine the full circumstances surrounding these tragic deaths and to help avoid such an incident happening again in the future.
“It is important that the Crown facilitates the process of putting all relevant information into the public domain.
“Dates for the FAI will be set by the Court in due course, and the Crown intends to initiate this process in 2022.”
