A funeral is due to be held today for Lamara Bell, one of the two people involved in the M9 car crash police failed to investigate properly for three days.
Mother-of-two Ms Bell passed away in hospital as a result of injuries sustained in the accident near Stirling which was reported to Police Scotland on July 5 but inexplicably not followed up until July 8.
The car’s driver John Yuill, 28, is thought to have died instantly in the crash and was laid to rest yesterday, while Ms Bell died in hospital a few days after officers discovered the Renault Clio at the foot of an embankment.
Ahead of a humanist service for Ms Bell at Falkirk Crematorium, her parents Andrew and Diane paid tribute to their daughter affectionately known as “Mara” – in a statement.
“Lamara or Mara to her friends: our sapphire in the waterfall of life shining like a ray of light,” it read.
“Her effervescent outlook in life was sometimes out of this world; one of her favourite things in life that only a few people ever knew about was her love of the TV programme The Sky at Night!
“As a child she would sit with us in a darkened room watching as Patrick Moore would talk about the planets, moons and stars.
“Her love was passed down to her own children; washed and scrubbed sitting in pyjamas in a darkened room they would sit watching as a family.
“Alysha and her mother were bound by an unbreakable link that only a parent can understand, they shared a love of horses and music; when both of them were on an exuberant day the noise levels could break sound barriers when they sang.
“Kieran never left his mother’s side when they were together with shouts of ‘Mum, Mum MUM!’.
“She would answer with a simple gasp of ‘what?’.
“He would just look at her reassured and run off like Stewie from Family Guy.
“We, as a family, miss our daughter each new day.
“As a family each night we mourn her loss with love.
“In the early morning our hearts shatter into a million pieces.”
A statement has also been released on behalf of Mr Yuill’s family, who said farewell to their loved one at a service at St Frances Xaviers Church in Falkirk on Thursday.
“We would like to extend our sympathies and support to the Bell family as they lay their daughter, sister and mother to rest,” they said.
“May she rest in peace.”