An Aberdeen bus driver has been convicted of deliberately driving over an elderly passenger who later had to have his leg amputated.
Allan Thomson, a former driver for First Bus, was found unanimously guilty following a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court of assaulting 74-year-old Michael McFadyen and dragging him off his bus before driving over him as he lay helpless in the road.
Those who first arrived on the scene described seeing “flesh and blood” on the tarmac and the pensioner’s leg looking like “shredded material”.
Mr McFadyen was rushed to hospital where doctors were unable to save his leg, which ultimately had to be amputated.
A jury took around three hours to find Thomson, 64, unanimously guilty of assaulting Mr McFadyen.
They also found he had driven dangerously and deliberately drove over the pensioner with his bus, to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and danger of his life.
Passenger left with ‘life-changing injuries’
Upon the verdict being handed down, Sheriff Andrew Miller told Thomson: “You have been convicted after trial of assaulting Michael McFadyen, a passenger on the bus of which you were then the driver, who was in his late 60s, by pushing him on the body causing him to fall off a bus.
“You dragged him along the ground by his body and clothing – you also caused serious injury to him by driving your bus over his legs as he lay in the road after the assault.
“The members of the jury were satisfied that you knew he was lying on the ground in front of your bus as you drove over him.”
Sheriff Miller added that the incident caused Mr McFadyen “serious life-changing injuries”.
During the trial, jurors were shown graphic dashcam footage which showed the moment Mr McFadyen was run over by the bus being driven by Thomson.
CCTV footage, which caused an audible gasp from some jurors, was also shown where Thomson is seen pushing the OAP off the bus before attempting to close the doors.
A prolonged fight ensues between the two men that ends up with Mr McFadyen lying in the road.
Thomson then boards the bus, starts the engine and drives over the pensioner with both his front and back wheels.
One witness, Ben Hall, 22, said the bus “lurched up” as it drove over the pensioner, while a second man, Alexander Duthie, described seeing Mr McFadyen’s leg as looking like “shredded material”.
Giving evidence on his own behalf, Mr McFadyen described the pain of being run over as “like something else”.
He said he had nightmares for six months after the incident and can no longer walk his dog due to his leg being amputated.
Thomson ‘just drove off’
Taking to the witness stand, Thomson told the jury he hadn’t deliberately driven over Mr McFadyen and characterised the incident as “a freak accident”
But during his final speech to the jury, fiscal depute David Rogers described Thomson as having shown “utter indifference” to the safety of Mr McFadyen that evening.
He said Thomson knew Mr McFadyen was on the ground because “he was the one who put him on the ground”.
“The accused gets back into the driver’s cab without carrying out any checks to see where the complainer was,” Mr Rogers stated
“By his own admission, he knew that Mr McFadyen was too close to the bus – he did not check to see where the complainer was and just drove off.”
Sheriff Miller warned Thomson, of Kirkwall Avenue, Aberdeen, that “all sentencing options would be open to the court” when he returns to be sentenced next month.
He deferred sentence in order for a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty order assessment to be carried out.
The sheriff also banned Thomson from driving and continued his bail.
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