A CASE victim suffered “almost incomprehensible” suffering as she lay dying in a car for three days, an inquest heard.
Lamara Bell, 25, was found trapped in the wreckage after the horrific crash – with her partner lying dead next to her.
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Lamara Bell was left in a crashed car on the M9 for three days
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John Yuill, Lamar’s partner, died in an accident in 2015
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Police officers at the scene of the tragedy after finally arriving at the scene three days after being tipped off
The sheriff has now slammed police over the crash, saying Lamara’s tragic final moments were the result of serious failings on their part.
An inquest today into a fatal crash revealed officers ignoring a crash call led to the 25-year-old’s death four days after she was taken to hospital.
Sheriff James Williamson said “failures by Police Scotland had fatal consequences” for Lamara.
He said the woman’s “almost incomprehensible” suffering was made worse by being trapped in the wreckage – exposed to the elements with the body of her partner John Yuill right next to her.
The sheriff revealed that if Lamara had been rushed to the hospital quickly after the impact, her head injury would have been treated and complications “vastly avoided.”
The inquest heard the couple were heading home from a camping trip when their Renault Clio veered off the road near Stirling on July 5, 2015.
Moments after the crash, the farmer called 999 to report seeing a vehicle down an embankment.
But an error at the police call center meant their response was delayed.
At an inquest at Falkirk Sheriff Court, Mr Yuill – who was driving at 91mph in the hours before the crash – was described as a “boy runner”.
The sheriff told the hearing that if Mr Yuill, 28, had taken reasonable precautions – including deciding not to drive – the accident might never have happened.
He was a temporary driver with a 30-joint-a-day cannabis habit, the inquest heard.
CCTV footage showed his blue Clio hitting a curb and bouncing back into the car park at Broxden Services, Perth.
Mr Yuill was seen stumbling – indicating he was not in full control.
The sheriff revealed that the accident could have been avoided if the 28-year-old had not been driving at such a high speed after a night of alcohol and cannabis consumption.
The policemen ‘failed’
But he concluded that the police “failed John Yuill and to a far greater extent Lamar Bell.”
Sergeant Brian Henry recorded the accident call in his notebook but failed to log it into the system.
The inquest heard he was working overtime as a call handler at a service center in Bilston Glen, Midlothian – which was described in the judgment at the time as a “confused, turbulent working environment”.
Sheriff Williamson said police had not identified a risk that the calls could not be processed.
He added that Mr Henry was “inadequately trained and left largely unsupervised to operate a system that allowed human error to go undetected”.
We said Lamar’s mum Diane welcomed a £100,000 fine for police in 2021, after they admitted health and safety failings, as justice for her daughter.
‘Lessons Learned’
And John Yuill’s father, Gordon, previously claimed his son could have been saved if he had received prompt medical attention.
His stepmother died seven years later, before the FAI took off last September.
Sheriff Williamson’s report said: “Sadly, John Yuill’s stepmother, Anita Dollard, passed away on November 24, 2022. Her death was prior to the start of the FAI.
“I appreciate the time it took to launch this investigation and the toll it took on Gordon Yuill and his family.”
He noted that Police Scotland’s Contact, Command and Control Unit — which oversees call processing — had been transformed in the wake of the scandal.
The force now operates a “sophisticated complex of service centers all capable of communicating with each other on a single IT network,” he said.
Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs admitted he could offer no comfort to the loved ones of the crash victims.
But he said: “I can assure them that lessons have been learned.
“Relentless improvement in service delivery lies at the heart of everything we do.
“We are studying in detail the determination for any learning that will form part of this continuous improvement.”
Retired policeman ‘tortured’ by his failure
Lucinda Cameron
A RETIRED police officer has apologized to the families of two people who lay undiscovered in a crashed car for days after failing to record a call to report the incident, saying he was “tortured” by what happened.
Brian Henry, 61, said he felt “terrible” for the families of Lamara Bell and John Yuill and that the incident “lives with me every day and always will”.
Ms Bell, 25, and Mr Yuill, 28, died after the car they were in went off the M9 near Stirling on July 5, 2015, while returning from a camping trip.
They had been lying in their Renault Cli for three days before they were discovered on July 8, despite police being notified of the incident beforehand.
Mr Henry said he could not explain why he failed to record the call about the crashed car and kept replaying what happened in his mind.
The Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) at Falkirk Sheriff Court previously heard that on July 5 Mr Henry received a call from a member of the public reporting a car that had left the road and recorded it in his police notebook, but it was not managed to log into the Storm case management system and no action was taken.
On Tuesday, the inquest heard a statement prepared by Mr Henry, which was read out by senior counsel Gavin Anderson KC.
In a statement, Mr Henry said: “At the outset I want to say how terribly I feel for the family and their loss. This incident haunts me every day and always will.
“I know that the grief and loss that families feel is not something that will ever leave them.
“I want them to know that having dedicated my whole life to serving Police Scotland it is devastating for me to be involved in the events of that day.”
In a message to the families, he added: “I want them to know that I am sorry for their loss. I am still struggling to understand what really happened.
“As a police officer I’ve always been proactive, I’ve always gone above and beyond, which is why this is so hard to explain and I say it over and over again.”
Mr Anderson then asked Mr Henry if the words in his statement still expressed what he wanted to convey to the inquiry and he replied: “Yes, yes.”
The wrecked car was discovered on July 8, 2015, after another member of the public called police to report seeing it, and emergency services went to investigate.
Mr Yuill was pronounced dead at the scene and Ms Bell died four days later in hospital.
The inquest heard Ms Bell would probably have survived had she been found sooner, although there is a likelihood of long-term neurological disability.
Mr Henry was working overtime at the Bilston Glen call center at the time of the incident.
The inquest also heard a joint minute agreed by the participants, which was read out by junior inquest counsel Elaine Smith.
It said Mr Henry could not explain his failure to record the call, which was described as “simple human error”.
The inquest heard the sergeant worked several overtime shifts at Bilston Glen and was considered a “diligent” and “conscientious” worker who tried to resolve problems on call.
The minutes said Mr Henry was “inadequately trained by Police Scotland before he was asked to respond to calls from the public”.
It also said that Police Scotland had not identified the risk of human error in recording incidents and had no systems in place to reduce that risk.
The FAI comes after Ms Bell’s family received more than £1 million in compensation from Police Scotland in a civil settlement in December 2021.
In September 2021, the police were fined £100,000 at the High Court in Edinburgh after pleading guilty to health and safety failings which “materially contributed” to Ms Bell’s death.
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