M9 crash: Father still has nightmares over son’s death as he lay undiscovered for three days

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Gordon Yuill told the hearing at Falkirk Sheriff Court today (Tuesday) he had reported his son, John Yuill, 28, missing after he and John's girlfriend, Lamara Bell, 25, failed to return from a weekend camping trip.

Mr Yuill, 59, who ran a mobile home recycling business – Caravan Heaven – with John, said he normally saw his son every day.

He described his son, a father of five, as a "lovely person ... a very hard working, normal family guy".

Gordon Yuill told the inquiry he still has nightmares about the death of his son John, 28, over eight years ago. Pic: Michael Gillen

The inquiry heard that John and Lamara, a mother of two, had been camping with three others on the south shore of Loch Earn when John and Lamara had "a dispute" and they left while the others were asleep.After calling at services near Perth in the early hours of the morning of Sunday July 5, 2015, John's Renault Clio plunged down an embankment on the M9 near Stirling.The wrecked car was reported within hours by a farmer – but a sergeant working an overtime shift at Police Scotland's Bilston Glen call handling centre in Midlothian failed to log the call.This resulted in area control rooms being unaware of the incident so no police action was taken in response.It wasn't until three days later, after another call from a member of the public, which was properly logged, that it was found.John Yuill was already dead, and Lamara had a significant head injury and was only partially conscious and in "significant pain".She was flown to hospital in Glasgow where she died on the morning of July 12.

Mr Yuill told the inquiry, at Falkirk Sheriff Court, how the three others who had been on the camping trip had turned up at his home in Camelon on the afternoon of July 5 to tell them how they had woken up to find John and Lamara and the Clio had gone and hadn't returned.He told how after he had texted and rang John's mobile without response and checked Facebook to see that neither he nor Lamara had posted anything for hours he made a series of calls to police, formally reporting him missing at 9.30pm. He said he was worried that John – who held only a provisional licence, while Lamara did not drive at all – had been in an accident.He said: "It was out of context for John to have just left people there."The inquiry heard a recording of the calls, in which other family members can be heard in the background.He told an officer in one of them: "They were supposed to be coming back today -- all of them. It's totally out of character. I basically see my son every single day and he contacts me every day."Obviously we are becoming increasingly concerned that they've had an accident off one of they roads up there."Police began a missing persons inquiry and took him to check his son's home address and their business premises.A helicopter search covered a wide area of Perthshire but the inquiry heard that no searches were tasked of the M9 near Stirling where the car had actually crashed.Mr Yuill said that on the day John and Lamara were found, he was about to take part in a police missing persons media appeal.He said later that morning he was with his late partner Anita Dollard, whom John regarded as his mum, at Forth Valley Hospital to identify John's body, when police first admitted their blunder.An officer read him a statement headed "form of words for family", signed off by Assistant Chief Constable Kate Thomson.He said: "In that statement there was no apology."Mr Yuill said that on July 15, three days after Lamara's death, he gave a statement to Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC).It read: "I know that John died quickly. However he still lay there for three days. Lamara to my mind could have been saved if she'd been found on Sunday."I still have nightmares about this. I want answers as to why this happened."Gavin Anderson, KC, for the Lord Advocate, asked: "That was your position in July 2015, and is that your position today?"Mr Yuill replied, "Yes."He told his own counsel, Brian McConnachie KC: "We had gone up to identify John when the news was brought to his mum and myself. At first we didn't understand what they were trying to tell us."We were obviously in a state of shock. We were upset."They sort of explained that there'd been a call that for some reason hadn't been acted upon."It was unbelievable, to be quite honest with you. We were shocked and we were hurt."He said they were initially told John had died instantly, but later he had survived longer, but earlier intervention would have not changed that.Mr McConnachie asked: "Notwithstanding that, does it remain a concern to you that John was in that car for three days while you were making various phone calls and inquiries to the police?"Mr Yuill replied: "Yes. John deserved dignity in death, and he didn't receive it."The inquiry, before Sheriff James Williamson, continues.

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