Speed claim over footballer crash

13 April 2011 Last updated at 13:45 GMT Gordon Lennon (right) with former Dumbarton manager Jim Chapman An off-road crash that killed footballer Gordon Lennon would not have been caused by a competent driver, a fatal accident inquiry has been told.

Dingwall Sheriff Court heard how police concluded that Fraser Hughes had been driving between 30 and 40mph when the 4x4 hit an electricity pole.

Mr Hughes later conceded he may have been travelling at up to 30mph and not the 15 to 20mph he had thought.

Mr Lennon was electrocuted in the crash at Brahan Estate in June 2009.

The 26-year-old, originally from Larne, County Antrim, died shortly after leading his team, Dumbarton FC, to promotion to Division Two.

He lived in Paisley and had a baby son with his partner, Kelly Dempsey.

'Competent driver'

The inquiry heard for a second day from Mr Hughes, 24, who was driving the 4x4 in which Mr Lennon was a passenger.

He had told the inquiry that he was driving at between 15 to 20mph on a downhill mud track at Brahan Estate, near Maryburgh, Ross-shire, when the crash happened.

But he was told Pc George MacAskill, of Northern Constabulary's road policing unit, had carried out an investigation and concluded Mr Hughes had been driving at between 30 to 40mph.

His report into the accident stated: "It is highly unlikely that control of the vehicle would have been lost by a competent driver at low speed."

When the statement was put to Mr Hughes, he replied: "I don't know how to reply or comment on that."

The car valeter from Inverness told the inquiry that he always drove on the track in a low-ratio gear selection in second gear.

But the police investigation discovered the wrecked vehicle was in a high-ratio setting.

The inquiry heard that in second gear, in low ratio, the maximum speed was 18.2mph, but 39.7mph in high setting.

Depute fiscal Ian Smith asked: "Do you accept you could be wrong to the extent that you could have been doing 30-40mph?"

Mr Hughes replied: "I accept you could travel down there at 30, but not 40."

Mr Smith asked: "You accept you could have been travelling at a higher speed of anything up to 30mph?"

Mr Hughes replied: "That could be the case."

The inquiry previously heard how Mr Lennon died after the vehicle crashed into an electricity pole.

The wooden pylon snapped and 32,000-volt cables fell onto the vehicle, electrocuting the 26-year-old as he attempted to escape the burning 4X4.

He was taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, but died about an hour after the crash, which happened at about 1600 BST on 7 June 2009.

The inquiry, before Sheriff Alasdair MacFadyen, continues.

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Nine injured after city bus crash

9 April 2011 Last updated at 16:58 GMT One person is said to have suffered serious injuries in the incident, with another eight hurt Nine people have been injured, one seriously, in a crash involving a bus and a car near Cardiff city centre.

A Stagecoach bus from Merthyr Tydfil ended up in front gardens off the A470 North Road at 1340 BST on Saturday.

The casualties - a mix of those travelling on the bus, including the driver, and in the car - have been taken to hospital.

The X4 bus had 20 passengers on board. The main road north of the city centre was closed in both directions.

One person is believed to have suffered serious injuries while the others sustained minor injuries.

The front of the bus was badly damaged in the crash

The single-decker X4 bus was travelling from Merthyr to Cardiff when the crash took place between Colum Road and Maindy Road.

South Wales Police say the road is closed in both directions between the Gabalfa interchange and Colum Road.

They advised motorists to stay clear of the area.

BBC Wales reporter Kate Scott-Williams, who spoke to police at the scene, said a total of nine people were believed to have been injured.

"There's only two vehicles involved, a car and a bus. Both vehicles were travelling towards the city centre," she said.

"There was a collision of some sort and they then veered off the road into a garden - they've ended up across two gardens."

The road was still closed at 1730 BST for crash investigations to continue.

A spokesman for Stagecoach said: "A car was in collision with our X4 service around 1.40pm today in North Road, Cardiff.

"The single-decker bus, which was travelling from Merthyr to Cardiff, had around 20 passengers on board."

He added: "Our first thoughts are for the welfare of those who have been injured. We will also be assisting the police in any way that we can with their investigation into the accident."

Cardiff Bus said the closure of North Road was seriously delaying all services to the north of Cardiff.

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Murder jury visits site of crash

22 February 2011 Last updated at 11:08 GMT A replica car was placed at the scene for the jury to view The jury in the case of a man accused of murdering his wife to get insurance money has visited the scene of the Aberdeenshire crash in which she died.

Malcolm Webster, of Guildford, Surrey, denies murdering first wife Claire Morris by drugging her, crashing their car and setting it on fire in 1994.

He also denies attempting to murder his second wife in New Zealand in 1999.

The judge, jury, accused and legal teams travelled from the High Court in Glasgow for Tuesday's visit.

Jurors were given permission to leave the road and take a closer look down an embankment, at the exact spot where Ms Morris died.

They were at the scene of the crash - a section of the Auchenhuive to Tarves road at Kingoodie - for 12 minutes before leaving to allow a replica car to be placed there.

It was a silent visit and the jury were not addressed.

Mr Webster stands accused of fraudulently obtaining more than £200,000 after cashing in insurance policies following the death of his first wife Ms Morris, who was from Oldmeldrum.

Malcolm Webster is charged with murdering his wife Claire Morris

The 51-year-old is further charged with deliberately crashing his car in Auckland in February 1999 in a bid to kill his second wife, Felicity Drumm, who was a passenger.

It is also alleged he intended to bigamously marry Simone Banarjee, from Oban, Argyll, to gain access to her estate.

It is claimed he told her he was terminally ill with leukaemia when he was actually in good health.

The trial, before Lord Bannatyne, began on 1 February.

It is expected to last several more weeks.

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MoD probes second Tornado crash

11 February 2011 Last updated at 07:51 GMT The crewmen ejected from their Tornado GR4 jet during landing The Ministry of Defence has begun an investigation after a Tornado crew was forced to eject from their aircraft during landing at RAF Lossiemouth.

The RAF confirmed the two crewmen ejected safely during the incident, shortly after 1700 GMT on Thursday.

The pilot and navigator were taken to hospital but are thought to have escaped serious injury.

On 27 January two crew members from RAF Lossiemouth ejected from another Tornado before it crashed into the sea.

That crew was forced to crash north west of Gairloch after the plane caught fire at 6,000ft (1,800m).

The men involved in the latest incident were taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "An incident has occurred involving an aircraft at Lossiemouth.

"The good news is that the crew ejected safely.

"They are in hospital where they are undergoing routine medical checks."

'Possibly mechanical'

Aviation expert Jim Ferguson said the lack of information about the latest incident was creating anxiety among some in the Lossiemouth community over the possibility of the two crashes being linked.

He said: "We understand the aircraft was landing when something went wrong.

"We understand that [the crew members] are safe, which is the main thing."

He added: "I'm concerned that the MoD is saying so little.

"They obviously know what's going on and I think we should have been told. Was it birds, was it possibly mechanical, because it is concerning local residents."

Meanwhile, the search is continuing in the sea off the west coast of Scotland for the Tornado jet that crashed last month.

The MoD said the search for wreckage was still under way and an inquiry into the cause of that incident was active.

A Royal Navy minehunter, HMS Blyth, has been involved in the search.

Following the crash, Stornoway lifeboat crew recovered some pieces of wreckage floating on the sea's surface.

RAF Lossiemouth, on the Moray Firth coast, is home to three squadrons of Tornado GR4s.

The Tornado GR4 is a two-seat attack aircraft, capable of delivering a variety of weapons and reaching a maximum altitude of 50,000ft (15,240m).

In July 2009 a pilot and navigator were killed when their Tornado crashed into a hillside in Argyll.

That aircraft was a RAF Leuchars-based Tornado F3 on a routine flight.

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Cork crash investigation under way

11 February 2011 Last updated at 08:38 GMT The aircraft had two crew and 10 passengers on board Five teams from Ireland, the UK, Spain and the US, are investigating what caused a flight from Belfast to Cork to crash on landing on Thursday.

The wreckage of the Manx2 plane remains at Cork on Friday as investigators try to find out precisely what went wrong.

Two flight recorders have already been removed from the scene.

The plane, which was travelling from Belfast, came down in thick fog and burst into flames. Six people died and six were injured.

Leading the investigation is Leo Murray of the Air Accident Investigation Unit. He said four investigators were at the scene an hour and a half after the crash happened.

"Yesterday we completed a site survey at Cork and we've done a preliminary inspection of the wreckage," he said.

"Late last night we were successful in recovering the so-called black boxes - the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder - which will be crucial to my investigation.

"We've also impounded all the air traffic records at the airport."

He said it was important to keep an open mind in any air accident investigation.

Preliminary report

Irish Minister for Transport Pat Carey said a preliminary report on the crash would likely be available within weeks, although a more detailed one would take much longer.

Mr Carey said what was clear from initial reports was "how quickly the emergency response got under way".

"I certainly want to applaud the work of all the emergency services," he said, adding that but for their work, the casualties would have been much worse.

Mr Carey said he had been in contact with his counterpart in the Northern Ireland Assembly, Regional Development Minister Conor Murphy, on Thursday.

"There is very good liaison between the two administrations to ensure there is seamless support available to everybody on both sides of the border," he said.

Continue reading the main story

Irish aviation journalist Gerry Byrne outlines what air accident investigators will focus on at the crash site.

Flight data recorders - enable investigators to recreate aircrafts last flight, its movement through the air and its approach and angle.

Cockpit voice recorder - pilot's may say things on the cockpit voice recorder that you don't hear or you don't realise is happening. They will also listen to the tapes of the conversations the pilots had with air traffic controllers in Cork and examine the radar tape.

Final approach - why did the pilot chose to make a third landing, was there a problem with disorientation, visibility, did one of the wings hit the ground on landing, engine failure.

Wreckage - they will be trying to see if all the components of the aircraft are there and if they were working at the time.

Names released The names of three people from Northern Ireland killed in the accident have been released.

Brendan McAleese, a cousin of Irish president, Mary McAleese's husband, was killed in the crash.

Pat Cullinan, originally from Omagh, County Tyrone, and a partner in accountancy firm KPMG in Belfast. A third victim, Captain Michael Evans, was a deputy harbour master at Belfast Harbour.

Irish, British and Spanish passport-holders were on board the aircraft which was flying between the two cities as part of a scheduled daily service. All their families have been informed.

The identity of the three other passengers killed is likely to be released by Irish police on Friday.

Bishop John Buckley, bishop of Cork and Ross, said there was a "great sense of sadness" in the area.

He said he hoped to organise a prayer service in Cork for the families affected by the crash.

Injured

Meanwhile, relatives of some of the six people injured in the accident have been visiting them at Cork University Hospital.

Dr Gerry McCarthy, a consultant at the hospital, said: "We've got four people with serious injures, two of them had to go to our intensive care unit where they remain at the minute.

Captain Michael Evans was the deputy harbour commissioner in Belfast

"They have remained stable throughout the day so really they're stable, but with serious injuries involving their chest, abdomen and spine."

The flight was scheduled to depart Belfast at 0750 GMT and eventually left at 0812 GMT. It was due to land in Cork at 0910 GMT.

The plane first attempted to land from a southerly direction on Cork's main runway, known as Runway 17. This was aborted due to low visibility.

It then tried to land on the opposite, northerly, approach to the main runway - known as Runway 35. The Aviation Authority said it is believed wind was not a problem, but the pilot was still unhappy with visibility.

The plane went into a holding position for 20 minutes, before making a third attempt to land on the southerly approach to the main runway.

At 0940 GMT, the plane was 10 miles out from the airport. At 0950 GMT, the plane hit the ground at what is called the 'western threshold' of the runway. Eye witnesses reported hearing a loud bang.

It is understood the plane flipped over on landing and caught fire.

Things are unlikely to return to normal at Cork Airport until late on Friday afternoon with some flights cancelled and some diverted to Shannon Airport.

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