Death crash driver jailed for 2 years

A VAN driver who smashed head-on into a pensioners’ car while trying to overtake a lorry in the dark has been jailed for two years – despite a plea for leniency from his victims’ ­family.

Driver Edward Beckley, 27, of Meikle Inch Lane, Bathgate, was also banned from driving for four years and ordered to resit an extended test.

Sarah Stewart, 77, from Moffat died in the collision on the A701 Dumfries to Edinburgh road and her husband, George, then 78, was seriously injured.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Mr Beckley admitted he was to blame but his plea of guilty to a reduced charge of causing death by careless driving was rejected.

Prosecutors demanded he stand trial and a jury found Mr Beckley guilty, by majority verdict, of causing death by dangerous driving on March 3 last year.