Pensioner road death man jailed

Neil was jailed for two years at the High Court in Edinburgh

A motorist who killed an 86-year-old man who was standing beside his broken down van has been jailed for two years.

Pensioner Richard Scott died instantly when he was hit by the car on a road in the Scottish Borders last January.

Kevin Neil, 43, of Ruberslaw Road, Hawick, had previously been found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving on the A698.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, temporary judge Rodger Craik QC also banned from driving for five years.

The judge said: "It does seem extraordinary that you failed to appreciate the true nature of the scene until you were virtually upon it."

He said he took into account the "unusual circumstances of the case" but added that Neil stood convicted of a serious offence.

He had previously been found guilty after trial of causing the death of Mr Scott on 25 January last year by dangerous driving on the A698 Hawick to Kelso road.

Rainy night

Mr Scott's friend George Tait, who had gone to the scene of the breakdown near Timpendean Cottages, Jedburgh, also sustained serious injuries in the incident.

The court heard that Mr Scott was returning home to Yetholm, in Roxburghshire, from a race meeting with his greyhounds when his van broke down on a rainy night.

Police attended, but left when Mr Tait arrived to give his friend and the dogs a lift home.

Mr Scott was standing beside his Vauxhall van with the driver's door open when Neil's Nissan Terrano struck him.

He died instantly after suffering multiple injuries.