Date set for Crown Office appeal against "unduly lenient" sentence for double cyclist killer Gary McCourt

Scotland’s Crown Office has announced that a date has been set for the appeal against the sentence of Gary McCourt, the driver responsible for killing cyclist Audrey Fyfe in August 2011.

In a brief announcement on its website, the Crown Office said: “The Crown can today confirm that a date has been set for the hearing of the sentence appeal in the case against Gary McCourt. The hearing will take place on 6 August 2013 at the Appeal Court at Lawnmarket, Edinburgh.”

At a hearing in April, McCourt, 49, was found guilty of causing the death of Audrey Fyfe, 75. McCourt hit the back wheel of her bike in Edinburgh and she died two days later.

Unduly lenient

McCourt was handed a five-year ban from driving and ordered to do 300 hours community service, a sentence that prosecutors are now appealing as “unduly lenient”.

At the end of McCourt’s trial it emerged that he had been convicted of causing another cyclist’s death by reckless driving in 1985. After being found guilty of causing the death of George Dalgity, McCourt was sentenced to two years in prison, though George Dalgity’s family believe he served just eight months.

However, when sentencing McCourt Sheriff James Scott did not choose to regard McCourt's earlier conviction as an aggravating factor worthy of influencing the sentence he handed down for causing Mrs Fyfe's death.

It was the Sheriff's view that the collision occurred when McCourt "momentarily" lost concentration and that while "Mrs Fife wasn't in any way to blame for the accident" in his view the fact that she wasn't wearing a helmet contributed to her death. McCourt had admitted to police that he had "clipped" Mrs Fife's bike.

Outcry

The sentence led to an outcry in the cycling community and the Scottish media. Mrs Fyfe's widower, John described the sentence as "beyond comprehension" and  national cyclists' organisation, the CTC said it was "scandalous" and launched a campaign for the sentence to be reviewed, 6000 people wrote to the Lord Advocate's office calling for the Crown to Appeal.

Writing on road.cc, Audrey Fife’s daughter Aileen Brown argued strongly that driving is not a right, and that sentencing for drivers who “demonstrate that they are either unable or unwilling to drive without consideration for other road users” should reflect that.

Dalgity family called for appeal

In April, the family of George Dalgity added their voices to demands that Gary McCourt should receive a more severe sentence.

“We don’t want to intrude on the grief of the Fyfe family, and we hope they will not be further hurt, but we do believe that he [McCourt] should receive a very stiff sentence this time around. That’s two people he has killed through careless driving – we don’t want there to be a third and it would seem he didn’t learn his lesson,” George’s younger sister Ann told Edinburgh Evening News.

The announcement of the appeal date comes as figures reveal an increase in casualty figures in Scotland for pedestrians and cyclists.