Driver, 21, ‘can’t recall’ horror crash that killed cyclist

A WOMAN sobbed in court yesterday after claiming she could not remember a collision in which a cyclist died.

Jordan McDowall allegedly caused the death of Kevin Gilchrist, 51, on the A8, Greenock Road, Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, on July 28, 2018.

Prosecutors state the 21yearold drove her white Ford Fiesta dangerously and failed to pay proper attention to the road. It is claimed she crossed onto the opposite carriageway and collided with Mr Gilchrist.

At the High Court in Glasgow, McDowall, of Erskine, Renfrewshire, denied the single charge of causing Mr Gilchrist’s death by dangerous driving.

She told jurors she had been driving for seven weeks at the time of the incident, was a ‘confident’ driver and was wearing sliders on her feet on the journey from nearby Bishopton. Prosecutor Paul Kearney asked if sliders were good footwear for a car journey. McDowall replied: ‘I couldn’t say.’

The court heard witness Gordon Lang state McDowall’s car was ‘veering’ on the road. Mr Kearney asked: ‘Is it not the case you were fully conscious but, for whatever reason, not paying attention?’ McDowall said: ‘No.’

Mr Kearney followed up: ‘You didn’t brake, did you?’ McDowall again replied: ‘No.’

McDowall said she had ‘no recollection’ of the collision and there was a ‘gap’ in her memory. She said she only came to when the air bags deployed.

She disagreed with a witness’s suggestion she was on her phone immediately after the collision.

Mr Kearney said: ‘If the witness is right, it means you were conscious enough and alert enough to be using your phone straight after an episode of loss of consciousness and memory.’

McDowall responded: ‘I don’t know what happened.’

It was put to her that she was overheard asking her mother to bring her juice on the call.

Mr Kearney stated McDowall repeatedly said she was going to be in ‘so much trouble’.

The prosecutor asked if this was something she would say if

‘Not prone to blackouts’

she did something wrong. McDowall replied: ‘Maybe.’

She agreed with her QC Brian McConnachie’s comment that she never suggested that she lost consciousness.

Mr McConnachie asked McDowall, who was crying, if she knew how the incident happened and she replied: ‘No.’

McDowall earlier said she had no heart problems.

Cardiologist Stuart Hutcheon told jurors McDowall was not prone to blackouts. He agreed with a professor’s suggestion that for this to occur at the single event of the road incident was ‘quite a coincidence’.

Jurors also heard Mr Gilchrist, of Langbank, Renfrewshire, died as a result of the collision due to ‘serious injuries to the chest’.

The trial, before judge Lord Armstrong, continues.