Police Left Mum Trapped Next To Dead Body
Lamara Bell, 25, lay undiscovered in a crashed car next to the body of her dead partner John Yuill, 28, for three days after the incident was reported to cops.
When officers finally arrived at the scene, Mr Yuill was found to be dead while Ms Bell was conscious.
Ms Bell died three days later at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.
Police Scotland admitted their failings “materially contributed” to Ms Bell’s death.
The force pleaded guilty today to health and safety failings, following the deaths of Mr Yuill and Ms Bell, who died after their car crashed off the M9 near Stirling in July 2015.
Despite a call being made to police, it took them three days to respond.
The call that alerted cops to the crash had not been recorded on the force’s IT system.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, the office of the Chief Constable of Police Scotland admitted that it failed to ensure that people including Mr Yuill and Ms Bell were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.
They admitted they had failed to provide an “adequate and reliable call-handling system” between April 1, 2013 and March 1, 2016.
It also failed to ensure the system was “not vulnerable to unacceptable risks arising from human error”.
There was also a failure to ensure that all relevant information reported by members of the public was recorded on a Police Scotland IT system so that it could be considered and a police response provided where appropriate.
Police Scotland pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
At the time of the crash, Lamara’s grieving mum Diane Bell climbed into her daughter’s bed and whispered, “Please don’t go” as she promised to take care of her young kids.
Speaking before the tragedy’s first anniversary, Diane said: “I got in bed with Lamara.
“We had the covers over us. I had my arm around her and was kissing her face.”
Diane had urged those at fault for her daughter’s death to step forward and take responsibility.
Diane said in 2016: “Someone has to be found accountable.
“I believe 100 per cent that she would still be here if the police had got to her sooner.”
SOURCE: the sun
