A man has been cleared of murdering a grandfather outside an Aberdeen pub – despite having already been convicted of his attempted murder before he died.
Michael Scott was found guilty in 2019 of attempting to murder grandfather Graeme Hardie by hitting him with his car outside the Staging Post pub in Bucksburn.
But Mr Hardie, who was left needing round-the-clock care at the specialist Chaseley Trust home in Eastbourne, tragically passed away on March 5 2020 – more than a year and a half after the incident in July 2018.
Following his death, the Crown decided to prosecute Scott, 37, for his murder.
But he has now been found not guilty by majority following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Scott was handed a 12-year jail term for attempting to murder Mr Hardie, and it is understood that conviction and sentence remain in place in spite of not guilty verdict over the murder charge.
‘You deliberately drove your car at him in order to cause him injury’
Scott was driving a Skoda Octavia car when it collided with Mr Hardie, who had three children and five grandchildren, on a road outside the Staging Post, leaving him badly injured.
England fan Scott had been asked to leave two pubs following his “obnoxious” behaviour as an England v Croatia World Cup match was being screened on television.
Paramedics who were called out to the injured man found him lying on his back on Old Meldrum Road, Bucksburn, unconscious and unresponsive.
Mr Hardie, who had been at the pub on July 11 following his late brother’s funeral earlier in the day, was found to have suffered a traumatic head injury and fractures.
Following the 2019 conviction, the judge who jailed Scott, Lord Uist, told him: “You were convicted by the jury of the attempted murder of Graeme Hardie, a man with whom you had an argument in a pub on the occasion of his late brother’s funeral reception.
“You deliberately drove your car at him in order to cause him injury and you did cause the most appalling injuries which have effectively ruined his life.”
The judge told Scott: “You have shown no remorse for what you did to him. A conviction for attempted murder particularly where, as here, the crime resulted in catastrophic injury must attract a lengthy sentence.”
In the most recent trial, Scott denied murdering Mr Hardie.
‘Mr Scott tells you it is Mr Hardie who comes into collision with the car’
In the new prosecution brought against Scott it was agreed that the injuries sustained by Mr Hardie were both severe and life-threatening.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that the cause of his death was established as bronchopneumonia as a complication of a traumatic brain injury due to the incident outside the pub.
Defence counsel Brian McConnachie QC asked jurors to acquit his client on the murder charge which carries a life sentence if convicted.
He said: “So far as the collision is concerned Mr Scott tells you it is Mr Hardie who comes into collision with the car, if you like.”
He said there was a dent and mark on the vehicle which was consistent with a foot having come into contact with it.
Scott claimed that he panicked after the incident and drove off but crashed his car at the nearby A497 road and mounted a central reservation. He was found to be over the limit in a roadside breath test.
Scott had been asked to leave two pubs on day of incident
Advocate depute Victoria Dow said that when eyewitness evidence was considered together it painted “a clear picture” that Scott drove right at Mr Hardie and did not try to avoid him.
The court heard that before the collision Scott had been asked to leave the Spider’s Web bar, in Dyce, and then the Staging Post, in Bucksburn.
Scott Reid, 45, the manager of the Spider’s Web, said: “He just started to antagonise the customers that were there. I made the decision to ask him to leave. I think he accused either myself or other people of being racist because he came from England.”
Allan Beattie, 66, who was the manager at the Staging Post, said that on the day of the incident there was a wake for Mr Hardie’s brother David. Scott had become louder and louder in the premises and was asked to leave.
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