A police officer has been fined £750 after being convicted of causing an accident which led to the deaths of two pedestrians in Aberdeen.

A jury at Aberdeen Sheriff Court found PC Andrew Baynes guilty by majority verdict of driving carelessly and at excessive speed and striking Sydney and Christine Carey.

As well as the fine, he had six penalty points imposed on his driving licence.

The dead couple's son Robin said he was "quite satisfied" with the verdict and had no ill feelings towards PC Baynes.

Training procedures

He was happy that Grampian Police were reviewing training procedures for their drivers and hoped they continued to minimise the risks of such a crash happening again.

The original charge of causing death by dangerous driving against Baynes was withdrawn before the jury retired.

Sheriff Douglas Risk accepted a defence submission that there was insufficient evidence for a conviction and ordered that the charge should fall.

During the trial, the court heard how the PC Baynes' car crossed to the opposite side of the road, mounted the pavement and struck Mr Carey, 56, and his 61-year-old wife as they went to collect the Sunday newspapers.

Warning to jury

Sending the jury out to consider its verdict, Sheriff Risk said: "This is a case in which it is impossible to avoid feeling strong emotions.

"Nobody could fail to feel horror at the striking down of innocent pedestrians walking along the pavement."

He added it was a natural reaction to feel that someone should be punished for that but he warned the jury not to be influenced by emotion.

PC Baynes, who has been with Grampian police since he was 17, was answering a 999 call to an armed robbery at a video shop in Cults when the accident happened in November 1998.

In evidence, he told the court he felt "numb" when he realised Mr and Mrs Carey were dead and revealed he had been receiving counselling from a psychologist since the accident.

He claimed to have no idea what caused his car slide out of control and said he had not thought there were any problems with the speed at which he was travelling.

'Model student'

A police driving instructor who was responsible for tutoring Baynes during a three-week general purpose course described him as a "model student".

Sergeant William McLellan said he had thought Baynes was certainly a candidate for future advanced driver training, and possible attachment to the traffic department.

Sergeant McLellan said Baynes had taken everything on board during what was a highly stressful course and had been awarded a mark of 85% by an external examiner.