Standing Stane Rd deaths: Teen driver told actions will reverberate for years to come
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Logan Russell was detained for 42 months after he pleaded guilty to death and serious injury by driving without due care and attention while blood alcohol level was in excess of the permitted maximum.
The devastating crash happened on the A915 Standing Stane road at Windygates, Fife, in November 2018 - the day after a party.
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Hide AdEthan King, was pronounced dead by paramedics and Connor Aird, both just 17, later died in hospital. A third passenger, Daniel Stevens, suffered serious injuries and spent a week in hospital.
In a sentencing statement, Lord Boyd of Duncansby said the victim statements made “grim and difficult reading” - and he emphasised the life-changing events as a result of the crash.
“The impact of an event such as this has reverberations far beyond the immediate deaths. The victims are not just those who have died but those who are left to grieve and come to terms with the loss.
Nothing that I can say or do and no sentence that I can pass can possibly make up for the loss and pain which the families of the two young men who died went through and will continue to experience for a long time to come.
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Hide Ad“You are the same age as the others in the car. When you have served your sentence you will have your life before you while they will not.”Lord Boyd added: “I suspect, however, that this will live with you for the rest of your life. You will have to come to terms with the fact that your decision to drive your car that morning led directly to the death of two young men on the threshold of adulthood and serious injury to a third.”
He said the decision to drive the morning after a party demonstrated a lack of maturity noting: “You should have known of the risks involved in driving a car having consumed alcohol and with limited sleep. In your case it led directly to a lack of concentration and to the accident.”Lord Boyd also noted some mitigating factors, including Russell’s age, having no previous convictions and that he was “genuinely remorseful.”
“I accept that you will find a custodial sentence difficult. It is clear that your early life was not an easy one – it is described as traumatic – but you now have a supportive family network.
“Had I been sentencing you as a mature adult I would have imposed a sentence of between six and seven years imprisonment.
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Hide Ad“Balancing all the factors in your case and in particular your youth at the time of the offence the appropriate headline sentence is one of four years.
You pleaded guilty at the trial diet and accordingly I shall discount the sentence to one of 42 months detention in a young offenders’ institution. The sentence runs from today’s date.”Russell was also banned from driving for four years with a 21 month extension period, and would be required to pass the extended test before holding a licence again.