Date set for FAI into Auckengill tragedy

Court will hear of crash which killed 30-year-old on anniversary cycling holiday

A DATE has been set for a fatal accident inquiry into the death of a thirty-year-old woman who died while on a cycling holiday with her husband in Caithness, to mark their first wedding anniversary.
Elaine Dunne’s husband Christopher – from Glenfield, Leicester - sustained serious injuries in the accident at Auckengill on the A99 Wick to John O’ Groats Road, in September 2011. The couple were heading south to Wick to catch a train home, at the time.
Ninety-four-year-old motorist, Alice Ross from Lybster, was subsequently charged with causing the accident by dangerous driving but the case was dropped. The Crown later admitted at the High Court in Edinburgh, it had failed to call for their own medical assessments in time, after Ms Ross’s lawyers said she had blacked out at the wheel of her car due to the medical condition of automatism.
Advocate depute Iain McSporran apologised for the mistake which he appreciated would have have increased the anxiety of both the accused and Mrs Dunne’s family.
The judge at the time, Lord Tyre commented: “I have recognised that the handling of this case has caused unnecessary distress to both sides. When something goes wrong, steps have to be taken to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The procurator fiscal’s office was instructed to hold a fatal accident inquiry and the date fixed for it, at Wick Sheriff Court today, was August 18.
Senior fiscal Alasdair MacDonald for the Crown, said the hearing would last for a fortnight. He said that a joint minute of agreement, if approved by the interested parties, would help to restrict the evidence to medical matters. Expert witnesses will give evidence during the second week. Medical records are being photo-copied and distributed.
A further hearing will be held at the Wick court on June 30 to firm up preparations for the August hearing.