A couple whose lives were ruined when a car ploughed head-on into their motorbike have spoken of their relief that the driver was not jailed.
Christopher Thornton, a father-of-three, joked in a text about falling asleep at the wheel just two hours before nearly killing Malcolm Traquair, 62, and his partner Ruth Keighley on the notorious A9.
On Tuesday, Thornton avoided jail and was sentenced to the maximum 300 hours of unpaid community work and banned from the road for three years.
He will have to resit his driving test. He admitted driving dangerously, knowing he was tired, and causing the pair serious injury in Aviemore on August 23 2013.
After sentencing at Inverness Sheriff Court, his victims, who were in court, expressed their satisfaction at the way Sheriff Gordon Fleetwood dealt with the 36-year-old company director from Bridge of Allan.
Mr Traquair, a retired senior fire officer with Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service, said: “We did not want to see other lives ruined and him going to jail.
“It has changed our lives and we didn’t want it to change the lives of his wife and children.”
Cardiac nurse Ms Keighley, 63, suffered brain damage and had to learn to walk and talk again. She spent 16 months in hospital and will never fully recover.
Her partner will also never overcome his injuries, losing the use of his right arm.