Tourist driving on wrong side of A9 killed dad on NC500 'bucket list' trip

A Chinese tourist who killed a motorcyclist heading for the Highlands to fulfil a “bucket list” has been jailed for 14 months.

Die Huang, 51, was driving on the wrong side of the A9 Inverness to Pitlochry road when she collided with a Harley Davidson ridden by Andrew MacPherson, who was thrown into the air and suffered catastrophic injuries.

Huang was on holiday in Scotland with her son, who lives and studies in London. She was heading south before the crash near the junction with the B847 Calvine road.

The section of the A9 she was driving on was a single carriageway section but she was previously travelling on a part of the road that was dual carriageway.

A judge told Huang at the High Court in Edinburgh: “It would appear that you simply had not appreciated that the two carriageways had merged into a single carriageway with tragic consequences.”

Mr MacPherson and his group were heading for the north coast of Scotland to travel the NC500, which the retired train driver had been talking about for nearly a decade, when he was confronted with the oncoming Hyundai car driven by Huang and had no time to react.

Lord Harrower told Huang: “I have read a personal statement from Mr MacPherson’s wife in which she writes movingly of the devastating impact that the loss of her husband has had upon her.”

The judge said: “No sentence of this court can alleviate the anguish suffered by her and by Mr MacPherson’s entire family.”

He told Huang that her offence was aggravated by the number of people injured in the incident, including her son, 25, and a friend, 52, travelling with them.

Mr MacPherson’s stepson, Edward Muller, was riding behind him and was also injured after he braked harshly to avoid being hit by the oncoming car.

Lord Harrower told Huang that a sentence of imprisonment was inevitable and told her he would have imposed a 21-month jail term were it not for her early guilty plea.

The judge said he took into account her genuine and deep remorse, her lack of driving experience in the UK, her otherwise good driving record, and her lack of previous convictions.

Huang earlier admitted causing the death of Mr MacPherson on June 23 this year by driving dangerously on the A9. She failed to maintain proper observations, tried to overtake another car and drove into the opposing lane, but failed to complete the manoeuvre, remained in the wrong lane and failed to take evasive action despite oncoming traffic.

Witnesses who were driving in front of Huang became aware of the car she was driving overtaking vehicles behind them. When behind their car, she pulled out as if to overtake but did not increase speed and remained in the opposing lane.

The driver slowed to allow her to return to the correct lane but got no reaction.

The court heard that Oxfordshire-born Mr MacPherson, 63, was a train driver who, after he was medically retired, devoted time to his hobbies.

Advocate depute Alex Prentice KC said: “He was an avid gamer and loved tinkering on bikes. Motorcycling was his main interest. The trip was on his ‘bucket list’, being the NC500 and he had talked about it for nearly a decade.”

Mr MacPherson and his group had stopped at Blair Castle, at Blair Atholl, for a tour of the property before continuing their journey north towards Loch Ness when tragedy struck.

Defence counsel Tony Lenehan KC said Huang has demonstrated “genuine and considerable remorse” and was assessed as being at the lowest risk of reoffending.

Huang was told that she will be banned from driving for five years and seven months.