Woman lay dying beside boyfriend’s body in crashed car for three days after police failings

A mother of two died after enduring three days of “incomprehensible suffering”, while laying next to the body of her boyfriend in a crashed car, because of police failings, an inquiry has ruled.

Lamara Bell, 25, was seriously injured when the Renault Clio being driven by her partner, John Yuill, careered down an embankment on the M9 near Stirling on July 5, 2015.

Mr Yuill, 28, died at the scene. While Ms Bell survived the accident, she died in hospital following a huge delay in the emergency services attending.

The crashed car was spotted by a local farmer on the morning of the collision. He reported it to police, but blunders in the call centre meant no officers were sent to investigate.

It was only when another local farmer spotted the car, on July 8, that the couple were discovered.

The second farmer heard a gravely injured Ms Bell say “help me” and “get me out” before he called police.

By that point, Mrs Bell was suffering from hypothermia. She died on July 12.

A fatal accident inquiry, the Scottish equivalent of an inquest, stated that she would “probably have survived” had she received help in the hours after the crash.

The initial call made to police was taken by Brian Henry, a sergeant, who had agreed to do overtime.

He made notes but failed to log the incident on to police systems, meaning no action was taken.

Sheriff James Williamson said he had been poorly trained, that there was confusion about call handling systems and that processes had allowed his “human error” to go undetected.

Mr Henry, who has since retired, told the inquiry he was “tortured” by his mistake, but the inquiry ruled he had also been failed by Police Scotland.

‘Fatal consequences’

“The failings of Police Scotland had fatal consequences for Lamara Bell,” Sheriff Williamson said in a 199-page ruling.

“Her suffering over a period of three days, terribly injured but conscious, is almost incomprehensible.

“That suffering is compounded by the fact that she was trapped in the wreckage of a car, open to the elements, alongside her dead partner throughout that time.”

Ms Bell’s family was awarded more than £1 million in damages from Police Scotland in a civil settlement in December 2021.

Police Scotland was also fined £100,000 after admitting “corporate criminal liability” for its part in the tragedy.

Ms Bell and Mr Yuill had been on a camping trip with friends when they left early. Mr Yuill had been drinking and smoking cannabis and did not hold a full driving licence.

Sheriff Williamson found the incident was the result of more than one error by Police Scotland “and these failures took place over a lengthy period of time, during which the opportunity to resolve them was lost”.

However, he said drastic improvements had since been made to the call handling system.

Following the ruling, Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs said: “Police Scotland failed Lamara and John in 2015 and I repeat the personal apology made previously to their loved ones. We did not keep them safe in their time of need as was our duty and for that I am truly sorry.”