SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing, Judge Hughes made the following comments:

“Leigh Sutherland, following a trial which took place at Glasgow High Court on 1 October 2025, you now stand convicted of a contravention of the Road Traffic Act 1988 section 1. You caused the death of Mrs Margaret Allan on 6 July 2023 by driving your motor vehicle registration number EJ 11 VJV dangerously in the area of Condorrat Ring Rd, Cumbernauld.

You had driven your motor vehicle in a dangerous condition whereby the battery was not correctly secured, the anti-lock braking system of the vehicle was not functioning and you drove the car at a grossly excessive speed. You failed to maintain proper observations of the roadway and you caused your car to collide with another vehicle being driven by Mrs Allan. As a result of your actions Mrs Allan unfortunately died and a child who was a passenger in her vehicle was injured. You committed this offence whilst you were on bail.

I had adjourned the diet for sentence to await the preparation of a criminal justice social work report. I have this and the medical report provided to the court by your counsel. I take into account your full background circumstances and all relevant features of mitigation. I have also listened to a carefully prepared and measured plea in mitigation made on your behalf by your counsel Mr Brown.

It is equally incumbent on me to take into account the catastrophic consequences your driving has had on Mrs Allan’s family and friends. I had previously indicated to you that close members of her family sat throughout your trial and listened with great dignity and courtesy to the evidence in this case. It must have been traumatic for them.

At the conclusion of the trial, I had encouraged those who wished to do so, to submit victim impact statements to the court for consideration. I have had the opportunity of reading them in detail. They are eloquent in their terms and explain the extent of the family’s tragic loss and their difficulties in coming to terms with the death of their loved one.

As a result of your actions their lives have changed radically from the course which they would otherwise have expected to enjoy for years to come. No sentence that this court can impose can ever adequately compensate them for their sad loss.

On 15 June 2023, on a fine sunny afternoon, Mrs Allan did what many parents and grandparents undertake on a daily basis. She went to her grandson’s school with a view to collecting him and returning him home, safely. Unfortunately, as a result of your catastrophic decisions and behaviour, what should have been a straightforward journey to return home ended in tragic circumstances causing the death of Mrs Allan and injury to the passenger in her car.

The courts have provided sentencing guidelines to be used in cases such as this. Mr Brown referred to this in his plea in mitigation. One particular issue which aggravated this matter was your disregard for the warnings you received about your breaking system. You should have stopped immediately. You failed to do so.

Apart from looking at the serious nature of the offence, the court must also consider any mitigating factors which existed. By that I mean that it is open to the court to take into account any attempts you had made to try to assist your victims. Were you contrite for what had happened? What empathy did you show for the lady you killed and the loss suffered by her family.

Unfortunately, your attitude to all of this was totally unacceptable. You stopped your car some distance from the actual collision point. You then proceeded to walk away paying no regard whatsoever to those you had injured, leaving them to their fate. Police officers followed you to try to stop you from walking away. You made derogatory, abusive comments about Mrs Allan. You thereafter swore at the officers causing them to caution you about your behaviour. When it became clear, several days later, that this was a serious matter, road traffic police officers called at your home in order to speak to you about this case. They asked you to confirm who the driver of your vehicle was and you told them that although you were the owner of the vehicle in question, you had advertised it for sale. A Romanian man, you could not identify, took it for a test drive. He was the person who had been driving it at the time of the accident. You showed no remorse and subsequently posted videos on the Internet about the circumstances of this incident. I take the view that there are no mitigating circumstances whatsoever following your actions. If anything, they aggravate the offence.

Having due regard to all relevant factors in this case and taking into account also the need to ensure that the sentence imposed is proportionate to the nature and whole circumstances of this offence, then, consistent with my public duty I consider that a custodial sentence is the only appropriate disposal in this case. The sentence which I now impose on you is one of a period of imprisonment of 9 years with effect from 1 September 2025. This takes into account the period from when you were first remanded, following trial and also the period that you had originally spent on remand until you were granted bail.

You shall be disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving licence for a period of 10 years and until you pass the extended driving test. Given the custodial disposal which I have imposed, I require in terms of section 35C of the Road traffic offenders act 1988 to impose a statutory extension to that period of disqualification which will be one half of the 9 years comprising the sentence of imprisonment. The period of your disqualification will therefore be for 13 years and 6 months. That disqualification will have effect from 6 October 2025 when interim disqualification was imposed.”

9 January 2026