Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Willie Rennie calls for update on M9 crash deaths inquiry

John Yuill and Lamara Bell lay undiscovered for days after a crash on the M9 near Stirling, despite a sighting of their wrecked car being reported to a police control room.
John Yuill and Lamara Bell lay undiscovered for days after a crash on the M9 near Stirling, despite a sighting of their wrecked car being reported to a police control room.

Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has pressed the Lord Advocate for an update on an investigation into the fatal M9 crash.

Mr Rennie has written to Frank Mulholland asking for details of the independent probe he instructed the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) to carry out.

Lamara Bell, 25, and John Yuill, 28, died after lying in a crashed car for three days after it was first reported to police last July.

Ms Bell was critically injured in the crash off the M9 near Stirling and died later in hospital. Her partner Mr Yuill, 28, died at the scene.

The Pirc investigation centres on why a telephone call made to Police Scotland on Sunday July 5, which reported their car was off the road, was not followed up.

It is also examining why a missing person inquiry relating to the pair was not linked with the information received in the call.

An interim report was submitted to the Lord Advocate on November 30.

In his letter to Mr Mulholland, Mr Rennie said: “I would be grateful for any indication that you can provide as to when this investigation will conclude and when you will be in a position to publish its findings.

“I would also appreciate it if you could outline the range of options that will be available to you once you have received the final report from the Pirc.

“As you will appreciate, once all the facts have been established, there are compelling reasons for information to be made available as soon as possible.

“And I hope that you agree with me about the need for as much transparency as possible.”

A Pirc spokesman said: “To determine the events leading up to the deaths of John Yuill, 28, and Lamara Bell, 25, all aspects of call handling and the missing persons investigation are being considered by Pirc investigators.

“The inquiry is ongoing and the Pirc continues to have regular contact with the families involved through our family liaison staff.

“The commissioner submitted an interim report to the Lord Advocate on November 30 and we are undertaking further investigations on his behalf as required.

“All findings from the investigation will be passed to the Lord Advocate for his consideration in due course.

“As in all Crown Office directed investigations, the Police Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 does not authorise the commissioner to publish a report.”

A Crown Office spokeswoman said: “The Lord Advocate has received the letter from Willie Rennie and will respond in due course.”