M9 fatal crash report man 'feels guilt'

The man who made the initial call to report a car that had crashed off the M9 near Stirling has told BBC News he feels guilty for not following it up.

The local man said he called the non-emergency 101 number at 11:30 on Sunday 5 July.

He was told officers would investigate.

John Yuill was found dead inside the blue Renault Clio three days later. His girlfriend, Lamara Bell, was critically injured and died in hospital at the weekend.

Ms Bell had suffered broken bones and kidney damage through dehydration after being trapped beside the body of Mr Yuill for three days.

It has since emerged that police only sent a crew to investigate the crash when a second call was made by someone else three days later.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the country's justice secretary, Michael Matheson, have both given their backing to the chief constable of Police Scotland, Sir Stephen House, who has been under growing pressure following the force's handling of the fatal crash.

Sir Stephen has admitted that the initial information received about the crash was not entered into police systems.

However, he insisted he would not be resigning, and said the "massive changes" brought by the creation of the single Police Scotland force were not to blame for the "horrible tragedy".

Ms Sturgeon also said there was nothing to suggest at this stage that there was a "wider systemic issue".

Sir Stephen House has apologised to the families of Lamara Bell and John Yuill

The initial caller, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the officer dealing with him on the Sunday sounded like he knew what he was doing and was not dismissive.

Details were taken of the location, described by the caller as "on the fork, between the M9 and M80."

The car, he said, was not visible from the motorway.

He said there was "nothing to suggest they would not take it seriously" and that he "assumed the police would check it out".

He became concerned on the Monday and Tuesday when the car was still there with no police tape covering it, but had thought it "must be awaiting recovery."

He said he was "aware of what was being said about whether he should have done more" but believed police were handling it.

Officers from Police Scotland have visited the man and questioned him for several hours, and he has also been interviewed by Pirc, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner.

Urgent review

A review of police call handling in Scotland has been announced by the Scottish government.

There had been pressure from opposition politicians for a wider inquiry into the operation of Scotland's single police force in light of the incident.

Scottish Labour justice spokeswoman Elaine Murray called for the chief constable to consider his position, and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said there was a "strong case for a wider independent review".

The urgent review by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) will focus broadly on all call handling procedures and will be in addition to the ongoing independent inquiry specifically into the M9 incident by Pirc.

The car had gone down an embankment off the M9

Ms Bell had been in a medically-induced coma at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. She died at about 06:50 on Sunday.

Writing on Facebook, Ms Bell's brother Martin said he was "blown away" by the efforts made by the Falkirk community to support the families, with fundraising events being set up and money raised to help pay for funeral arrangements.

He said: "It's times like this when you realise how good a community we live in.

"It just feels like a bad dream right now, but all your kind words and efforts are helping so much, there are so many kind and decent people out there."

The Yuill family added: "The family of John Yuill would like to say that their prayers and thoughts are with Lamara and her family. We are devastated by the sad news.

"The families have messaged each and our thoughts are with John and Lamara's children at this very sad time."