A Fife dental nurse who lied to cover for her boyfriend after he mowed down and killed a pensioner has been struck off.
Tiegan Carruthers, 22, claimed she was behind the wheel when Gregg Anderson struck Linda Dunn as she tried to cross a road in Leven.
Carruthers was seen in the aftermath of the crash screaming hysterically and later said she had been blinded by sunlight before striking Miss Dunn, 68.
An investigation revealed it was Anderson who had been driving the Mazda at almost double the 20mph speed limit in October 2017.
Carruthers was handed 225 hours of unpaid work and put under supervision for two years while Anderson was jailed for six years and banned from driving for seven and a half years.
Carruthers, of East Wemyss, was suspended by the General Dental Council (GDC) the day after she was charged over the death of Miss Dunn.
She failed to engage with disciplinary proceedings against her, asked to be “left alone”, and has now had her name removed from the register.
It emerged she had also been convicted at Hamilton Sheriff Court of acting in a threatening and abusive manner last year but failed to tell the GDC.
The High Court heard that Carruthers, who graduated from Edinburgh University in 2016, told police she could not see anything before Miss Dunn struck the bonnet of the car and then the windscreen.
She told her insurance company police had told her it was not her fault and she would not be charged.
Her boyfriend claimed she had been driving at less than 20mph because of the low-lying sun but CCTV revealed the truth.
Judge Lord Uist told her only her age and lack of record had saved her from a prison term.
Striking Carruthers off the register, the GDC said: “The committee took into account the serious nature of Miss Carruthers’ offending, in particular the circumstances of her convictions in 2018.
“It noted that her preparedness to maintain a false account of the incident, despite being aware of the fatal consequences of the road traffic accident.
“The conduct of which she was found convicted, in particular the attempted fraud and perverting the course of justice, is conduct capable of bringing the dental profession into disrepute and which, the committee considered, other dental professionals would find deplorable.
“There is nothing current before the committee to indicate that Miss Carruthers has reflected on her convictions or developed her insight.”
