Man runs to help after hearing car crash and finds his fiancee fatally injured

A man who heard the sound of a car crash and ran to help found that his fiancee had been killed in the accident. Scot Brading, 30, was walking his dog in a field close to the A1 outside Edinburgh when he went to the scene of a crash between a tipper truck and a car.

He realised when he got there that his partner, 26-year-old Meghan Ambrozevich-Blair, a talented veterinary student, was involved in the tragic incident. Mr Brading and an off-duty doctor tried in vain to save her at the scene.

She died after a truck driver, Michael Friel, performed a three-point turn on the dual carriageway when he realised he had missed his turn and started driving the wrong way, towards oncoming traffic on the Edinburgh to Newcastle road.

Several drivers had to swerve to avoid him and flashed their lights at him before he hit Miss Ambrozevich-Blair’s vehicle.

They told the High Court in Edinburgh that he appeared to be staring straight ahead and oblivious to the danger.

Friel, 57, was warned after he admitting causing death by dangerous driving on December 9, 2016, near Dunbar, East Lothian, that he was facing a “substantial” jail sentence.

The court heard on Monday that Miss Ambrozevich-Blair was awarded a posthumous first-class honours degree in veterinary nursing by Edinburgh Napier University.

She had told friends online a year before the accident that she was “over the moon” to be engaged. The court also heard that the former Dunbar Grammar School pupil raised funds for the Scottish SPCA and campaigned against animal cruelty.

The judge Lord Arthurson, who deferred sentence on Friel, of Macmerry, East Lothian, told him: “A substantial custodial sentence remains at the forefront of the court's mind.”

The victim’s family said in a statement that their “world fell apart” when she died, adding: “Meghan was talented, caring and loving in every way. She loved life and had it all in front of her.

“We lost an incredible daughter and sister, and her fiancé lost his soulmate and the family they planned to have.

'The suffering we have endured over the last two years since that day has been horrendous. We never thought it was possible to be in so much pain and still be alive.”

She was on her way to her part-time job at Vets for Pets on the outskirts of Edinburgh before the collision.

Friel was driving a Ford Transit tipper van to Little Spott in East Lothian when he missed his turn and pulled over before turning back.

Alex Prentice, prosecuting, told the court: "He joined the A1 southbound and had almost reached Torness nuclear power station before realising he was travelling in the wrong direction for his destination.”

One motorist then saw in his rear view mirror that the tipper had turned round and was being driven in the wrong direction.

The prosecutor said: "Two drivers noticed the accused appeared to be oblivious to the danger presented and that he was staring straight ahead while driving."