A NEW two-day trial sitting has been set at Perth Sheriff Court for the trial of two Dundee City Council outdoor education workers who have been charged with endangering the lives of nine young children on an outing in Perthshire last summer.

Fraser Ogilvie (22), of Derwent Avenue, Dundee, and Kirsty Taylor (27), of Elthorne, Dundee Road, Coupar Angus, have previously denied that their actions resulted in a 13-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl being washed from a rock in the River Garry.

The charge against them states that on August 9 at The Gorge, River Garry, Struan, Calvine, being employees of Dundee City Council based at the Ancrum Outdoor Centre, Dundee and being outdoor education workers, they culpably and recklessly took a group of nine children (between the ages of 10 and 13) to The Gorge and failed to take appropriate and adequate precautions for their safety.

The charge further states that in particular they failed to check weather forecasts prior to departure or failed to take heed of weather warnings and led the children into The Gorge causing them to traverse or attempt to traverse rocks and water while the river was in spate and while heavy rain and thunderstorms were forecast.

It also says they were present in the area when flood warnings had been issued for the upper Tay and tributaries, of which the River Garry is one.

The charge continues that as a result they permitted the children to enter the water at the River Garry and stand on the rocks in or at the side of the river and crossed the rocks as a result of which a 13-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl were washed from a rock, the 11-year-old girl was injured and the lives of the others were recklessly endangered.

At yesterday’s intermediate diet Sheriff Robert McCreadie set fresh trial dates for August 25 and 26. There will be another intermediate diet on August 11.