Mother-of-two killed in A9 motorcycle crash

Sharon Topping was killed hours after collecting her first motorbike on the A9 near Pitlochry

A mother who died during a motorcycle ride with her husband just hours after buying her first bike, has been named.

Sharon Topping, 38, from Moodiesburn in Glasgow, was killed on Saturday after her Honda motorbike hit the central reservation on the A9 near Pitlochry.

Her 40-year-old husband Stephen, who was travelling behind her on his own motorbike, then collided with her bike.

Despite the efforts of a passing doctor, Mrs Topping, who had two sons aged 12 and 16, died at the scene.

Tayside Police said Mrs Topping, who worked as a store manager at Argos in East Kilbride, was riding her Honda CG125 southbound on the A9 at about 1800 BST when the accident happened.

Mr Topping, who was riding a Honda Pan European bike, was uninjured.

He said his wife had only taken ownership of her bike two hours before she died.

"She had taken motorbike lessons without me knowing, and she passed her CBT (Compulsory basic training) last Tuesday", he said.

"I came back last week and she was wearing the biking leathers.

"I wasn't happy but she felt very confident in riding the bike and with her being so outgoing it's difficult to say no."

Mr Topping said said his wife had been looking at bikes in the days before she died on eBay and eventually bought one on Saturday morning.

He said the couple arranged that she would drive her new bike home, with him on his own motorcycle close behind.

'State of shock'

He added: "We'd been driving for a couple of hours that day and we kept stopping every wee while to see how it was going.

"She kept saying 'this is brill', 'this is great'. We had rules that I was always behind her.

"She was startled by an oncoming vehicle and she had to take an action to move to the outside lane and she couldn't stop and she hit the reservation.

"I ran up to her and put her on her back.

"There was no pulse but I started breathing in to her mouth. I wasn't trained in CPR but I didn't know what else to do.

"I knew immediately she was dead but I didn't want to believe it. I was in a state of shock."

The road was closed southbound for several hours following the crash while investigators examined the scene.

Police have appealed for witnesses to the incident to come forward.