Witness supports crash driver
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• An Ayrshire lorry driver's nine-month jail sentence for causing the deaths of a young couple in a road accident has been described as "appalling" by an advanced driver who was present at the crash.
Kevin Fitzpatrick, 31, from Ardrossan had denied at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court that he had driven his tractor unit at excessive speed for the conditions on the A736 Irvine to Barrhead road on 12 December last year. Fitzpatrick's unit had collided with one car, crossed the carriageway and crashed into another car, killing Laura McDonald, 25, and Colin Heron, 25, instantly.
After the six-day trial, advanced driver Pamela Ferguson said: "I was driving behind Fitzpatrick that night and we were both blinded by the full-beam headlights of a parked car. Prison is no place for Kevin. He has suffered enough and justice has not been done."
The court was told the scene of the tragedy was a blackspot and had claimed more than 15 lives in recent years.
Jailing Fitzpatrick, described by his defence counsel as a broken man and suicide risk, Sheriff Thomas Croon said: "This is a tragic and difficult case for all those concerned."
Fitzpatrick had recently left his job at a bakery to become a driver and had financed his own training.
No-one was available for comment at his employer, general haulage contractor Tait of Ayrshire.