A man who caused a pensioner’s death by driving dangerously with his girlfriend sitting on his knee has been jailed for 12 months.
Jurors at Nathaniel Cooper’s trial were told they had made legal history when they found him guilty.
Cooper’s co-accused Kylie Johnston, who admitted causing Andrew MacKay’s death by driving dangerously, was spared a prison term and ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work.
The 27-year-old – who was uninsured and did not have a driving licence – was sitting in Cooper’s lap in the driver’s seat when they lost control of their vehicle at a north-east holiday park.
Mr MacKay, who had stepped out of his caravan for fresh air after chopping onions while preparing a meal, was hit by the couple’s Daihatsu Terio and pinned between the vehicle and his holiday home.
The retired plumber, of Renton in Dunbartonshire, suffered chest injuries and died at the scene of the accident at the East Balthangie caravan park at Cuminestown in Aberdeenshire.
Judge Lord Stewart told Cooper and Johnston at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday that it was a “tragedy” and added: “I accept that both offenders are genuinely deeply remorseful.”
The Crown alleged that both had caused the death of Mr MacKay by dangerous driving on July 21, 2013 by both driving a Daihatsu Terio and failing to keep proper control of the vehicle.
It crossed a grassy area, crashed through a fence and hit the 65-year-old victim.
Father-of-two Cooper, 31, of Queens Road, Inverbervie tried to help the pensioner after the crash.
Cooper and Johnston had gone out in the vehicle to buy cigarettes and sweets and were returning to the caravan park when the fateful decision was taken to allow her to get behind the wheel.
Lord Stewart said he had given “very anxious consideration” to alternatives to custody in the case.
He said neither Cooper nor Johnston had been assessed as posing a materiel risk of reoffending.
He said: “There is likely to be a damages claim arising from the event.”
At the end of Cooper’s trial, Lord Stewart told jurors that extensive inquiries had been made to try to find a case similar to Cooper and Johnston’s.
He said: “We have looked far afield, to places such as America, and all we could find were cases involving animals, namely dogs, sitting on the laps of the drivers.
“You have helped to make legal history as I understand it.”