A MAN accused of running down two students in a fatal car crash almost three years ago will no longer face prosecution, it has emerged.
William Payne was alleged to have hit Mhairi Convy and Laura Stewart while driving his Range Rover near the Buchanan Galleries shopping centre in Glasgow in December 2010.
Pub DJ Mr Payne appeared on petition at Glasgow Sheriff Court in November last year charged with causing death by driving while uninsured. Yesterday, prosecutors said the charge against the 53-year-old had been dropped.
It is understood the decision has been made after a recent ruling involving another road traffic case south of the Border which went to the UK Supreme Court.
A fatal accident inquiry into the deaths of the women will now take place early next year.
A Crown Office spokesman said it had been concluded there "should be no further criminal proceedings".
He added: "The Crown reserves the right to re-raise criminal proceedings should there be a material change in circumstances.
"Crown Counsel have also instructed that a fatal accident inquiry should be held into the deaths, which we anticipate will commence in the New Year. We will continue to keep the families advised of the status of the case and any future developments."
Ms Convy, 18, of Lennoxtown, East Dunbartonshire, and Ms Stewart, 20, of Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, were accounts students at the then Central College of Commerce.
The friends had headed for town to do some Christmas shopping when they were hit as they walked along the pavement.
The girls died of their injuries at the city's Royal Infirmary. Father-of-three Mark Hopwood, 36, survived after he was also struck.
It was reported at the time that the two students and Mr Hopwood were on the pavement when Mr Payne lost control of his 4x4 and veered off the road.
It was also claimed he was diagnosed with a form of epilepsy in hospital afterwards. It was said he had no idea he had the condition.
The Crown Office said the decision follows a recent ruling at the UK Supreme Court involving a similar road traffic case.
This concerned a Michael Hughes who was accused of causing the death of James Dickinson while driving his campervan uninsured and without a licence. It followed a fatal accident in Northumberland in 2009.
Mr Dickinson was said to have been driving erratically before colliding with Mr Hughes's vehicle and also had heroin in his system.
Prosecutors accepted Mr Hughes was in no way at fault for the accident, but he still ended up being charged before a Crown Court judge threw out the case.
Prosecutors appealed and the case ended up at the Supreme Court, where it was dismissed.
The court ruled: "There must be something open to proper criticism in the driving of the defendant, beyond the mere presence of the vehicle on the road, and which contributed in some more than minimal way to the death."
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