A woman who lay in a crashed car beside her partner for three days, despite the accident being reported days earlier to police, has died.

Lamara Bell, 25, was left critically injured and her boyfriend, John Yuill, 28, died following the crash at the M9 near Stirling last Sunday.

The incident was reported to police that day, but was not followed up for 72 hours.

Ms Bell was taken to Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital but has now lost her fight for life.

Ms Bell had reportedly been placed in a medically-induced coma when she was being treated at Glasgow's new hospital.

Numerous tributes to her have been posted online.

Following news of Lamara's death today, Polcie Scotland's Chief Constable Sir Stephen House, passed his condolances to her family and said his officers are co-operating fully with the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner investigation into why they did not respond sooner to the accident.

Sir Stephen said: "On behalf of Police Scotland, we are all deeply saddened by the news of Lamara Bell's death this morning and I would personally like to express my deepest sympathies to her family and friends for their loss.
"We will continue to co-operate fully with the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner as they undertake their investigation into the circumstances of this tragic incident."

Last week he apologised to the relatives of the two crash victims and admitted police had "failed both families".

The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner released statements today on belhalf of both families.

A spokesperson for the Bell family said: ""Sadly, our daughter has passed away. We now request that the media respect our privacy to grieve for Lamara at this very difficult time."

A spokesperson for the Yuill family said: "The family of John Yuill would like to say that their prayers and thoughts are with Lamara and her family.

"We are devastated by the sad news this morning.

"The families have messaged each other this morning and our thoughts are with John and Lamara's children at this very sad time."

The couple were reported missing after visiting Loch Earn, Stirlingshire, in a blue Renault Clio.

It emerged that a member of the public contacted Police Scotland at around 11.30am on Sunday July 5 to report that they could see the vehicle down an embankment near the M9 slip road at Bannockburn.

The call was answered, but "for reasons yet to be established" it was not entered onto the police systems and no action was taken at the time.

The car was found when officers were called to the scene by another member of the public on Wednesday.

The police investigations and review commissioner (Pirc) is carrying out an independent investigation into the circumstances of the incident, under the direction of the Crown Office.

There have also been calls for a wider inquiry into the operation of Scotland's single police force in light of the incident.

Scottish Labour's justice spokeswoman Elaine Murray said: "This is awful news, and our thoughts and prayers are with Lamara Bell's family. Losing a loved one is always difficult, but to do so in such circumstances makes the pain so much more pronounced.

"Lamara Bell's death reinforces the need for an urgent, full and wide-ranging inquiry by the police investigations and review commissioner.

"We need to get to the bottom of why it took police more than 72 hours to respond to an emergency call.

"This inquiry must look not just at what went wrong in this specific case, but also assess wider issues like the impact of cuts to services on the ability of the police do their job properly."

Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie has said the case for such a probe was becoming "unanswerable" and has questioned Sir Stephen's assertion that the incident centred around an "individual failure" in the service.

The MSP said workload pressure on the police service has been "immense" since the reorganisation of the service into a single force over two years ago - a move which included the centralisation of police control rooms.

Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Margaret Mitchell added: "This has been a devastating tragedy, and you can only feel for the families involved.

"The second death in relation to this incident really increases the pressure on Police Scotland and the Scottish Government.

"They both assured the public the 101 number was working well and there was nothing to worry about, despite police officers telling a different story.

"This tragic incident proves that not to be the case."