Man admits his dangerous driving killed schoolgirl Abbie McLaren

A man has admitted causing the death of his cousin's daughter in Motherwell by dangerous driving after hitting the schoolgirl while her father was a passenger in the car.

Martin McGuire, 39, was driving at 51mph in a 30mph zone when he hit 12-year-old Abbie McLaren as she crossed the road after getting off a bus on The Loaning on February 12 this year.

Abbie was flung onto a parked car, suffering multiple injuries, and was pronounced dead in hospital that evening.

McGuire admitted causing the schoolgirl's death by dangerous driving, and also driving without a licence or insurance when he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday.

Alex Prentice QC, prosecuting, told the court that McGuire, a father of seven, was driving his daughter's car and picked up Abbie's father Adam McLaren at around 4pm to drive to McGuire's home.

At 4.08pm Abbie got off a bus on The Loaning with a friend, having arranged to meet her and go to a shop.

Mr Prentice said that McGuire and Mr McLaren were not aware of the arrangement and that it was "purely coincidence that all parties were passing through the locus at the time of the collision.''

After getting off the bus Abbie, and her friend Chelsea Hamilton waited for traffic to clear at the rear of the vehicle and then began to cross.

Mr Prentice said: "Chelsea Hamilton stopped half way across however Abbie McLaren continued to run across and was struck by the accused's vehicle travelling southbound.

"The speed at which the car was travelling caused Abbie McLaren to be projected forward onto a nearby parked car which caused extensive damage to the car and fatal injuries to Abbie McLaren.''

McGuire stopped the car and remained at the scene.