Crash victim's fury over extradition of killer driver to Italy

Morag Smith (right) with her sister Laura Kewley who told her about the deaths of her loved ones

A woman who survived a crash that killed five people in Moray has hit out at the "secret extradition" of the driver responsible to Italy.

Italian tourist Alfredo Ciociola was jailed for three years in December for the crash on the A96 near Keith.

Morag Smith, 44, was left with life-changing injuries after her car was hit by a rented minibus driven by Ciociola.

She said the Crown failed to deliver justice after the prison service wrote to tell her he had been extradited.

The Crown Office said all those affected had been informed of Ciociola's extradition at an early stage.

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Ms Smith said: "In the last five years I've stayed quiet and trusted the justice system to deliver but it hasn't.

"In early June I got a letter from the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) about Ciociola's secret extradition, and that's what made me feel like I have to speak up as the SPS didn't make this deal, the Crown did, so the Crown should have to justify it."

Ms Smith's partner Evalyn Collie and their two friends Ted Reid and Audrey Appleby died in the A96 crash between Huntly and Keith.

Ciociola's four-year-old son, Lorenzo, and fellow minibus passenger Frances Saliba were also killed in the crash.

Edward Reid, Audrey Appleby, Evalyn Collie and Frances Saliba died

The Italian naval officer was convicted of causing death by careless driving. He was also disqualified from driving for 10 years in the UK.

It is understood his extradition was a condition set by the Italian authorities when he was sent to Scotland for trial.

In a statement through her lawyer Digby brown, Ms Smith added: "Every victim deserves to know they matter and the fairest way to do that is ensure the person responsible is sentenced fairly, the crash happened here so Ciociola should serve time here."

"What is to stop Italian authorities giving Ciociola an early release because he's on home soil?"

"Will Scottish officials actually go there and check he's locked up until 7 November when I've been told he's to be released?"

Ms Smith and her passengers had been travelling home from an Elgin Country Music Club dance when the crash happened.

Alfredo Ciociola was found guilty of causing death by careless driving

She said: "I know Ciociola suffered his own loss but he's responsible for five deaths and it's not much to expect him to spend time in a Scottish cell before getting to see his loved ones - because I'll never again get to see mine."

"Evalyn was my whole world, she died three days away from our eight-year anniversary."

The accident left Ms Smith with multiple open fractures on both arms, lacerations to her left leg, a damaged right knee cap, multiple spine disc fractures and an abdominal tear.

She underwent emergency surgery that lasted 11 hours at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

'Everyone had died'

After the surgery, her sister Laura Kewley told her she was the only person in her car who had survived the accident.

Ms Kewley said: "There was just tears and disbelief, here was Morag, completely unable to move, wrapped in bandages and hooked up to machines, and I had to tell her everyone had died."

Ciociola's jail sentence was backdated to 9 May 2022 when he was taken into custody in the UK.

He had denied that he had fallen asleep or repeatedly driven on to the wrong side of the A96

He went on trial accused of causing death by dangerous driving. The jury decided he was guilty of causing death by careless driving.

A spokesperson for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: "It is correct that Alfredo Ciociola has been transferred to serve the remainder of his sentence in Italy. This was a condition placed on his extradition from Italy by the Italian Courts applying Italian law."