A family hit out after a driver was cleared of causing her boyfriend’s death by driving carelessly on a slip road.
Vicki Williamson, 36, of Dundee, was giving 26-year-old Liam Thornton a lift to his work at Burger King in Aberdeen when she was involved in a collision with another car.
The motorist lost control of her silver Vauxhall Corsa and crashed into the Blue Ford Focus on the outskirts of the city on August 12, 2014.
She went on trial accused of causing Mr Thornton’s death at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Tuesday but was cleared of the offence on Thursday.
A jury of nine men and six women found the charge against her not proven by a majority verdict.
During the trial, the court heard that the slip road leading off the A90 was in a “poor” state of repair. It was worn in places and had a noticeable dent in the road which was often greasy in wet conditions.
Ms Williamson told the court during her evidence that she felt as if she had skidded on black ice and her car failed to react to her trying to steer out of the way of the other car.
Williamson was also seriously injured in the crash and spent 11 weeks in hospital recovering from broken ribs and a broken pelvis.
A four-year-old child, who was travelling in her car, was also injured in the accident and her dog died.
Ms Williamson wept as the jury found the case against her not proven. She had previously admitted driving with a defective tyre which was marginally under the 1.6mm limit and fined £80.
She was also given three points on her licence.
Following the verdict, Mr Thornton’s furious family said they were shocked by the verdict.
One family member, who did not want to be named, said: “I just think it’s ridiculous.
“That’s what Liam’s life was worth three points on a licence.”
His mother, Donna Thornton, 28, said she was disappointed.
The mother-of-six said her son, who lived in Aberdeen, had been working at Burger King, where he met Ms Williamson, for a year and had really enjoyed his work.
She said: “He got on with everyone there.
“He was brilliant – everybody loved him. He was a character.”
Ms Williamson gave evidence during the trial and blamed the road surface for the collision.
Describing the crash to the jury, she said: “It wasn’t the best road conditions. I kind of took my time coming up the road. It had been really stormy the night before in Dundee to the point there was trees on the roads.
“So I was aware that the road would be damp, wet.”
She said she was aware of a sharp corner on the slip road coming off the A90 and estimated her speed to be about 30 mph when she approached the bend because she was in third gear.
She told the court it felt as if she had skidded on black ice.
She said: “The next thing I remember was just being at the side of the road with the fire brigade and they were pulling up a big curtain and Liam was at the side of it and they were trying to revive him.”
Police sergeant Graham Mutch, who was working as a collision investigator at the time, said there was no evidence to suggest that Williamson was driving in a manner anything other than normal before the collision.
There were no skid marks on the road and it was not possible for police to work out the actual speed of either vehicle.
Collision investigators claimed the most likely cause of the crash was that the driver lost control of the car due to driving at an inappropriate speed on a bend for the road conditions.
Another police officer, Craig McNeill, described the road as being in a “poor state of repair” and said the road dipped on the carriageway of the slip road where Ms Williamson was driving.