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Killer driver walks free from court after blaming her diet for crash
Published on Saturday 7 January 2012 00:29

Patricia Aitken was sentenced to 240 hours community service and banned from driving for 5 years after blaming a low-calorie diet for the accident that killed Suzanne Harkness, pictured. Picture: Lothian and Borders Police/PA

A DRIVER who claimed a low-calorie diet had caused her to lose consciousness behind the wheel and led to an accident in which a learner driver died has avoided jail.
Patricia Aitken admitted careless driving and causing the death of 22-year-old Suzanne Harkness and was sentenced to 240 hours community service and banned for five years.

The sentence led to angry scenes outside Jedburgh Sheriff Court, with relatives of the learner driver reacting angrily to hearing 55-year-old Aitken had avoided jail.

As the trial ended Miss Harkness’ mother Vivien shouted: “You walk away.”
Outside the court she said: “My daughter is dead and deserved justice. I am angry about how long this has taken. It could have been dealt with ages ago.”
Miss Harkness’ sister Melissa, 23, said: “I am shocked at the sentence. She should have been jailed.”

Aitken initially denied the charge, claiming her low-calorie diet caused her to black out moments before the head-on smash.
The collision, which took place in August 2009 on the A6091 road near Melrose, killed office worker Miss Harkness, who was having a driving lesson at the time. Her driving instructor, James Egan, was also seriously injured.

Initially, Aitken claimed a low-calorie diet which she had been on for two days may have caused her to black out.
Aitken changed her plea to guilty after the Crown produced an expert medical report which dismissed the suggestion that the diet could have caused the loss of consciousness or fainting at the wheel.
Defence lawyer Shelagh McCall, QC, said her client, who was also seriously injured, had not driven since the crash.
She said Aitken had been at an appointment in Edinburgh and was driving back to her home in Melrose but her last memory was while driving at Dalkeith 25 miles away.
Ms McCall said two days before the crash Aitken had began an extremely low-calorie diet and the defence had contended that “potentially could cause a sudden black out through low blood sugar, low potassium or low blood pressure”. The QC added: “It is a very specialist field and that is why a not guilty plea was entered.

“But the Crown expert studied the blood tests taken from Mrs Aitken. These tests were able to rule out the possibility of a medical explanation for this incident and as a result a plea of guilty was tendered.”
She explained the investigation found that driving conditions were good and no-one was speeding prior to the accident.
Ms McCall continued: “There is no evidence of anyone braking prior to impact, with no drugs, alcohol or mobile phone involved.”
She added the reason for the accident was “unclear” saying: “She must have momentarily entered the opposite carriageway, with these devastating results.
“She takes full responsibility for the offence and makes no attempt to minimise it.
“The consequences are her first and last thoughts each day.”
The court heard Aitken has been married for 32 years and was a valuable member of the community working with young people.

Passing sentence, Sheriff Donald Corke said: “The circumstances have never satisfactorily been explained why the vehicle you were driving crossed the road and collided with the other car.”
He described Miss Harkness as a young woman on the threshold of adult life which had been taken away from her, adding: “Nothing I can do or say can change that.”
Sheriff Corke said it was an aggravated factor that driving instructor Mr Egan was also seriously injured.
He told the first offender he had seriously considered custody but felt the most appropriate sentence was 240 hours community service, reduced from 300 due to the guilty plea, and a five-year driving ban.
Aitken pleaded guilty to driving carelessly and causing her Volkswagen Passat to go on to the opposite carriageway of the A6091 road near her home in Melrose, Roxburghshire, on August 26, 2009.

That resulted in her car colliding with the Citreon in which Miss Harkness and the driving instructor were travelling.

Mr Egan, suffered a neck injury and a loss of consciousness.
They both had to be cut free from the wreckage of the Citreon by firefighters along with Aitken, who suffered various fractures and was transferred to the intensive care unit at Borders General Hospital for treatment.