Lamara Bell and her partner John Yuill were found inside their car after it crashed down an embankment off the M9
A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the deaths of two people who lay undiscovered by the side of the M9 for three days is set to start in Falkirk.
John Yuill, 28, and girlfriend Lamara Bell, 25, died after their car came off the road, near Stirling, in July 2015.
It took officers three days to visit the scene of the crash after the accident was reported by a farmer.
Mr Yuill had died and Ms Bell was seriously hurt. She later died in hospital.
Police Scotland has already admitted that failures in its call-handling system “materially contributed” to Ms Bell’s death.
There have already been a number of investigations into what went wrong in the incident.
It was found that a police officer at the force’s Bilston Glen call-handling centre failed to record a report from a farmer on an IT system.
He had alerted officers that a car was at the bottom of an embankment off the M9 near Stirling.
The case was referred to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) and an independent review of call handling in Police Scotland’s contact, command and control division led to 30 recommendations for improvements in the service.
Image source, PA Media
Police near the scene of the 2015 crash
In September 2021 the force was fined £100,000 after it pled guilty to a charge under the Health and Safety Act and admitted “corporate criminal liability”.
The then Chief Constable Sir Stephen House apologised “unreservedly” on behalf of policing in Scotland.
Two months later, it was announced that Ms Bell’s family would receive more than £1m in compensation from Police Scotland.
In a statement released at the time the Bell family said the conclusion of the civil claim against the force was the end of “chasing answers, recognition and justice for six years”.
It added: “Our pain and loss won’t stop just because the legal proceedings are over but there is at least a sense of peace that comes with their conclusion.
“But that peace is fleeting because ultimately we are still without Lamara. We are without a daughter and sister and her children are without a mother.”
The role of an FAI
The FAI will determine the cause of the deaths and the circumstances in which the deaths occurred.
It will also try to establish what reasonable precautions could have been taken to avoid deaths in similar circumstances. FAIs do not apportion blame.
Procurator fiscal Andy Shanks, who leads on death investigations for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: “Following a thorough and detailed investigation and criminal prosecution this fatal accident inquiry will look at the full circumstances surrounding these tragic deaths and help avoid such an incident happening again.
“The families of Lamara Bell and John Yuill and their legal representatives will continue to be updated as the inquiry progresses.”
