Ayrshire mum jailed for killing boyfriend in car crash

A young mum sobbed yesterday as she was jailed for three years for killing her boyfriend on a horror car crash.

Natasha Scott, 21, of Oakwood Avenue, Ayr, who had only passed her test 11 months earlier, lost control of her Vauxhall Corsa after speeding on the B7024 from Maybole to Ayr on July 24, 2016.

Scott failed to slow as she negotiated a hill crest and a left hand bend and her car ploughed into a fence, brick wall and telegraph pole before coming to a halt.

Twenty-one-year-old Kai, who was a rear seat passenger died, while three teenagers also in the car were left hurt.

One of them – a 15-year-old boy – needed major surgery to reconstruct his face following the crash.

The others suffered minor injuries.

Scott pled guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and injuring the other passengers.

Yesterday at the High Court in Glasgow Judge Lady Stacey told Scott: “You know your dangerous driving caused the death of Kai Milligan and you have to live with that knowledge.

“You also caused serious injury to another young man. The accident happened because you failed to negotiate a hill crest and a left hand bend.

“Your exact speed cannot be ascertained but you increased your speed on the straight and failed to decrease it despite there being a bend and signs on the road to slow down. You knew that road having driven it many times.”

Lady Stacey banned Scott from driving for five years.

Scott's defence counsel Barry Smith argued unsuccessfully that to jail Scott would breach her seven-month-old son's human rights and that of her parents who would have to care for him.

He said: “I would ask that she be given an alternative to jail given the effect it would have on her infant son and her parents and the fact she is assessed as a low risk of re-offending.”

Mr Smith added: “She will live with the consequences of her driving that day. She blames herself for caused the death of her then boyfriend Kai and her 15-year-old friend.

“She says she thinks about it all the time. What she can't bear is the prospect of being separated from her baby.”

The court heard that Scott and her five friends had been on their way to the shops in Ayr where the horror crash happened. Seconds earlier they had been chatting and listening to music as they drove along.

The crash occurred on the B7024 near Blairston Main Farm in Alloway, Ayr.

Prosecutor Duncan McPhie said Scott had “increased her speed” and – at a hill crest – the car then became “airborne” before she lost control.

The court heard the Corsa started to “fishtail”.

Scott tried to regain control, but her car spun and then smashed into the fence, wall and pole.

Mr McPhie: “Mr Milligan – seated behind the driver – sustained fatal injuries as a fence post passed through a side rear window striking him in the face.”

The 15 year-old boy was hit in a similar way. Scott, a 17-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy managed to clamber free.

Crash investigators were not able to calculate exactly how fast Scott was travelling before the collision.

But, it was concluded she was going at “excessive speed” at the time.

The court heard Scott made no comment when quizzed by police, but did become “upset”.

Scott sobbed as she was led away to begin her sentence.

The court heard that her son will be cared for by her parents

• Ayr
• Car Crash