Man fined £10,000 over bus crash

Court was told Hegarty was remorseful for having lied

A County Antrim man has been fined £10,000 for attempting to pervert the course of justice over a fatal road crash.

Three adults with learning difficulties were killed when a lorry owned by William Hegarty, 74, of Moneynick Road, Toomebridge, struck a minibus in 2001.

The court heard he lied to police on three occasions about giving a driver the keys to a truck with no foot brake.

The judge said a jail sentence was not being imposed due to health reasons.

Hegarty, who collapsed on the second day of his trial for manslaughter last year, will not face trial for the victims' manslaughter due to ill health.

Ballymena Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, was told Hegarty was remorseful for having lied and that he also apologised for any further pain his actions had caused the families of the victims.

David Mitchell, 57, Margaret Warren, 52, and Derek McConnell, 35, who were residents of the Three Islands nursing home in Toome, were killed when the lorry crossed into the path of the minibus they were travelling in on 29 November.