Edinburgh crime: Manager of Scotch Whisky Experience Philip Lister facing jail after hit and run which left child with serious injuries

A diabetic motorist who left a young child with serious injuries during a hit and run incident in Edinburgh is facing a jail sentence.

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Philip Lister - a manager at the popular Scotch Whisky Experience tourist attraction - drove through a red light and struck the six-year-old boy who was making his way across a pedestrian crossing.

Lister, 45, drove away from the collision and later claimed he did not realise he had struck anyone due to him having a diabetic episode at the time.

Philip Lister is facing a jail sentence

Police were forced to scour CCTV in a bid to identify the driver of the vehicle and Lister was subsequently arrested and charged with dangerous driving.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told yesterday the senior restaurant and events manager had voluntarily surrendered his driving licence and has decided not to drive anymore.

Prosecutor Sophie Hanlon told the court the boy was making his way home with his mother and four-year-old sister as they approached the city’s West Approach Road at around 5pm on November 6, 2020.

Ms Hanlon said the family stopped at a pedestrian crossing and the boy “went ahead on his scooter” when the green man appeared on the crossing signal.

The fiscal said: “As her son was crossing the road a car approached and failed to stop at the red light at the crossing and struck the child causing him to be thrown to the ground and causing damage to the vehicle.

“The vehicle drove onwards and [the mother] ran over to her son and picked him up from the road and moved him onto the pavement.

“He was unresponsive and at this time blood was covering his face.

“After a minute or so he regained consciousness and began to cry and was shouting and asked his mother if this was a dream.”

The court was told police and paramedics attended the scene and the boy was rushed to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children by ambulance.

The boy suffered a cut above his eyebrow and he was “referred for plastic surgery at Livingston’s St John’s Hospital to minimise the scarring”.

Ms Hanlon added police searched local CCTV to identify the vehicle involved and they attended at Lister’s home at the capital’s Davidson Mains area three weeks later.

His ex-partner told officers Lister was a type 1 diabetic and added he had “lost his wing mirror [previously] as he was having an [diabetic] episode”.

When officers explained why they wanted to speak to Lister, the woman added: “It was definitely him.”

Lister told officers he believed he had struck a bollard when having the diabetic fit and “could not remember the drive”.

Solicitor Mark Harrower, defending, said his client had been out for a walk near to an Edinburgh reservoir and had taken five tablets due his sugar levels being low before driving home.

The lawyer said the father-of-two should have waited 15 minutes to allow the medication to work before driving home but had failed to do so.

Mr Harrower added Lister was “devastated by what happened” and following his arrest he had decided not to drive anymore.

The lawyer said: “If he had realised there had been a collision he would have stopped.”

Sheriff Kenneth Campbell QC issued Lister with an interim road ban and deferred sentence for reports to next month.

Lister pleaded guilty to causing the boy serious injury by dangerous driving and while knowingly suffering from a diabetic episode at West Approach Road, Edinburgh, on November 6, 2020.

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