"Distracted" Driver Killed Pensioner Travelling with Grown Up Children

A motorist who killed an 86 year old pensioner and badly injured both of the elderly lady's grown-up children was spared jail today after a sheriff said the tragedy was due to "a moment's distraction".

Andrew Turner, 52, lost control of his VW Golf ploughed into an oncoming Mercedes carrying the woman who was killed, Geraldine Hodge, on the A82 near the Falls of Falloch in west Perthshire.

Stirling Sheriff Court was told that Turner's Golf had a front tyre so bald that the cord was showing through, but the defect, though bad, did not cause the crash.

The accident occurred at about 5.15 pm on June 2nd 2014 as Turner, a £550-a-week plant operator, was driving home from work.

The Mercedes was being driven towards Oban by Mrs Hodge's son Mark Hodge, also 52. Her daughter Theresa Hodge was also in the car, in the rear offside passenger seat.

As they approached a sweeping bend, Turner's Golf came round the corner towards them, and crossed onto the wrong side of the road, leaving Mr Hodge nowhere to go. The Golf "impacted heavily" into the side of the Mercedes.

A van driver went to assist, and worried about the possibility of fire, pulled Turner from the wreckage.

Other drivers stopped to help, including a passing nurse and a GP.

Fire fighters and paramedics attended, and an air ambulance was scrambled to the scene.

Mrs Hodge's body had to be freed from the Mercedes by firemen, because of the extent of the damage.

Prosecutor Beverly Adam said the Merc had been "extensively damaged", and bodywork was protruding into the passenger compartment.

The Golf's front suspension and one tyre was completely ripped off, and found lying about 20 feet from the point of impact.

The instrument panel of the Golf showed it had been travelling at 58 at the time of the crash.

Mr Hodge later told police that the accident had happened so fast he didn't even have time to brake.

Mrs Hodge, of Bournemouth, who was already suffering from the effects of a recent stroke, died from multiple injuries.

Turner was airlifted the Royal Alexandria Hospital in Paisley with a fractured spine.

Theresa Hodge, now 55, suffered a collapsed lung, and a fractured left leg, vertebrae and pelvis, the latter of which injuries was expected to causing "long term issues". She was also permanently scarred.

Mark Hodge sustained cuts, bruising, and a broken thumb.

Turner, of Balloch, West Dunbartonshire, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving, and using a car with a defective tyre.

He wept openly in the dock as the facts were read out.

Defence solicitor Alan Gravelle said Turner still had flashbacks and nightmares.

He said the accident had happened because his client had been "momentarily" glancing at his speedometer.

Mr Gravelle said: "Words cannot express how sorry he is. For everyone involved, this was a horrifying, tragic incident."

Sheriff Wyllie Robertson ordered Turner to perform 250 hours of unpaid work as part of a community payback order, fined him £400, and disqualified him from driving for two years.

He told Turner: "Nothing that I can do or say today can bring Geraldine Hodge back, nor can it do anything to assuage the very devastating repercussions on her family and the very serious injuries that they have sustained, and from the victim statements that I have read, in one case they have been particularly severe and life-changing.

"Cases of this nature are very difficult cases for the court to sentence upon. Sentences involving dangerous driving are much easier to sentence upon.

"The Crown have accepted that this incident was the product of a momentary distraction.

"I am satisfied that in the particular circumstances that it is within a category where I must consider a custodial sentence, but I am also satisfied that the circumstances are such that I can properly impose an alternative to custody, in the form of a community payback order."

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