Proceedings have been launched against Police Scotland after a couple died when their car went off the motorway more than five years ago.
It is understood the Crown Office is taking formal proceedings against the police force.
It comes after the deaths of John Yuill, 28, and his partner Lamara Bell, 25, whose car left the M9 near Stirling in July 2015.
Despite a call being made to police, it took them three days to respond. When officers finally arrived at the scene, Mr Yuill was dead and Ms Bell died later in hospital.
READ MORE: Probe into four-year-old M9 crash tragedy delayed
Lord Advocate James Wolffe QC is understood to have notified Chief Constable Iain Livingstone – who was not in charge of Police Scotland at the time – that legal proceedings against the force have commenced.
The scene of the crash
A spokeswoman for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “The case team and staff from our Victim Information and Advice service have communicated with family members and their legal representatives throughout, and will continue to keep them informed of any significant developments in relation to the investigation.
“In order to protect any potential proceedings, the Crown will not comment further at this stage.”
READ MORE: Mother of M9 crash victim Lamara Bell says the last year has been 'torture' for the family
Mr Livingstone said: “Lamara Bell and John Yuill’s deaths were a tragedy and my thoughts and condolences are with their families and loved ones.
“Police Scotland has fully assisted the Crown Office throughout their inquiries and will continue to engage in due process.”
In a statement released by solicitors Digby Brown, Ms Bell’s family said: “We will not comment on any new or ongoing proceedings until they have all concluded.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel