Family's death trio verdict fury

Wells had denied causing death by dangerous driving

Relatives of three young people killed in a road crash have condemned a not proven verdict on the driver who caused the accident in Aberdeenshire.

John Wells, 20, denied causing the deaths by dangerous driving of Stuart Johnston and Emma Foster, both 19, and 24-year-old Jonathan Gray.

He accepted causing the crash, but was instead found guilty of careless driving at the High Court in Aberdeen.

Wells was fined £2,000 and banned from driving for three years.

Speaking outside the court, Ms Foster's parents Kenneth and Chris said they were deeply upset at the verdict.

Mr Foster said: "It is a miscarriage of justice. How could he [Wells] not see the lights on an open stretch of road?

The three close friends died in the two-car crash

"Christmas without our daughter is no good."

The accident happened on the Turriff to Fyvie road in 2005.

Wells was driving a Ford Escort when it was in collision with a Nissan Micra.

Ms Foster, from Silverhillocks, Banffshire, and Mr Gray, from Aberdeen, had announced their engagement just days before the crash claimed their lives.

Their friend Mr Johnston, from Millbrex, in Fyvie, was driving the car they were travelling in.

Wells was alleged to have dangerously overtaken another vehicle into the path of the Micra, causing the deaths of the three friends last November.

The crash happened on the Turriff to Fyvie road

Wells earlier told the trial he was responsible for the accident.

He said he pulled out to overtake and hit the Nissan Micra coming in the opposite direction.

He said: "I put my right hand signal on to move out, I turned the steering wheel, coming out I saw the headlights of a car.

"By the time I broke to slow myself I saw both headlights of the car but my wheels locked and I slid across the road."

He said that it had been a matter of seconds between the time he started the manoeuvre and the point of impact with the Micra.

He got out of the car and dialled 999 from his mobile phone.

Mr Foster broke down outside the High Court after the verdict

Defence counsel Norman Ritchie had asked Mr Wells: "Is your position that it was your fault in the sense that you were executing a manoeuvre and the accident happened as a result of that?"

"Yes," he said.

Under cross-examination, advocate depute Drew McKenzie put it to Wells: "You were committed to an overtake and gambled in the hope you would get past, but saw a car coming and collided with it."

"I did not gamble on the overtake," Wells said.

The judge charged the jury on Thursday morning, the fourth day of the trial, and they retired at 1100 GMT to consider a verdict, which took them two hours.

After the verdict, Lord Mackay told the jury: "It has been a tragic case which will have long-lasting consequences for many people."