NOVICE DEATH DRIVER JAILED

Scott Manson, below right, had faced up to 14 years in jail after being found guilty of causing Abigail Simpson’s death by dangerous driving.

The 15-year-old passenger died when Manson lost control of his overloaded Ford Fiesta and smashed into a concrete pillar, three days after he passed his driving test.

Manson, 20, of Castletown, was speeding at 70mph minutes before tragedy struck in Caithness in October 2007.

In sentencing the apprentice mechanical engineer at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, judge Lord Pentland said it was the court’s duty to send out a safety warning to other inexperienced drivers.

Manson was also banned from driving for seven years.

Abigail’s family, who broke down in tears at the end of Manson’s five-day trial last month, were not in court yesterday but road safety campaigners said the sentence was “unduly lenient”.

Isobel Brydie, of the Scottish Campaign Against Irresponsible Driving (SCID), said: “I don’t know how the family feel but I would encourage them, if they are so minded, to push the Crown Office to appeal on undue leniency.”

Earlier the High Court in Inverness was told Manson had five passengers in his car, one in the boot, as he drove along the Thurso to Castletown road.