Floral tributes to crash family

Lisa Scott was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital

An Ayrshire community has expressed its shock at the death of a couple and their premature baby in a crash.

Floral tributes were placed at the spot where a collision took place between a police van and a car in Irvine.

Duncan Scott, 28, died at the scene and his wife Lisa, 30, who was eight months pregnant, was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital in Kilmarnock.

Doctors delivered her daughter, who was named Eva, by emergency caesarean section but she died on Sunday.

Provost Drew Duncan told how the deaths had stunned the local community.

"Tragedies happen, but coming up to Christmas people just don't think that these things are going to happen," he said.

Tributes have been laid at the scene of the crash

"The whole community and the families of both sides are in a state of shock at the moment."

Family members told one newspaper they were "devastated" at the deaths.

Mr Scott's father John, 66, told the Daily Record: "I can't believe all three of them are gone on the same day.

"It was to be their first child as a couple. I saw Duncan in hospital and I didn't even recognise him. The shock of seeing him lying there was terrible."

The accident took place at about 2345 GMT on Saturday on Towerlands Road at the junction with Pladda Avenue, East Broomlands.

The crash took place on Saturday evening

Police said Mrs Scott, of Girdle Toll, Irvine, was driving a Ford Fiesta which was involved in a collision with a police van.

The police vehicle was not thought to have been involved in an emergency call at the time.

"A full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash will be carried out and a report sent to the procurator fiscal," said a police spokesman.

The investigation will be carried out by officers from the Tayside force.

It is standard procedure for an outside force to be called in to investigate an incident where a police vehicle or police personnel have been involved.

A spokeswoman for Tayside Police said: "We have been asked to oversee the investigation and a chief inspector travelled to Ayr on Sunday to meet with the enquiry team.

"Once the enquiry has been completed a full report will be submitted to the area procurator fiscal in Kilmarnock."