Fatal accident trial - verdict update

'Relief' at not proven verdict and understatement said van driver

A 57-year-old north gas engineer was today found not proven on a charge driving carelessly and causing the death of a motor cyclist.
The jury at Wick Sheriff Court, took only 48 minutes to return their majority verdict on Anthony Palmer, at the end of a trial that lasted just over three days.
Palmer, 57, had pleaded not guilty to the indictment which alleged he had failed to keep a proper lookout when he was turning his van right into the access road to the new house he is building, at Borrowston on the A99, near the village of Thrumster. The northbound motorbike, driven by offshore worker Brent Larnach, 28, from Mid-Clyth, crashed into the side of the van. The 28-year-old biker, who witnesses said had been travelling in excess of the 60mph speed restriction, died at the scene of the accident, on April 28, last year.
Palmer, of Malcolm Street, Wick, told the court that he had carried out all the necessary checks to ensure a safe manoeuvre but that the motorbike was upon him so suddenly there was no time to avoid a collision.
Commenting afterwards, described by character witnesses as "a careful driver" and "a good friend", said that to say he was relieved would be "an understatement".