A driver has been cleared of two charges relating to the death of a popular Rutherglen schoolteacher on a rural road.
Andrew John Reed,27, was found not guilty at Newcastle Crown Court last week of causing the death of former Stonelaw High teacher Isabel Gilchrist, and a separate charge of causing serious injury to her husband Daniel by dangerous driving.
The court heard Mr Reed hit the Gilchrists, who were on a motorbike, with his tipper truck as he reversed to allow a vehicle heading in the opposite direction to pass at Kielder on June 25, 2018.
Giving evidence Reed said he believed he did all he could to check it was safe to move, regularly checking his mirrors and manoeuvring his vehicle in a snaking motion to maximise the sight in his mirrors.
Reed pleaded guilty to a charge of perverting the course of justice relating to the incident at an earlier hearing and will be sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on May 15.
