Former sergeant Brian Henry, who was responsible for failing to log a call about a deadly crash on the M9 that resulted in the deaths of John Yuill and Lamara Bell back in 2015, has revealed at a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) that he cannot explain his mistake. Henry put the mistake down to human error. The retired police officer had written down details of the incident in his notebook but forgot to record it on the police IT system. Unfortunately, no action was taken by officers until three days later when Mr. Yuill was found dead at the site of the crash. Ms. Bell died later in the hospital.
The court also heard that Brian Henry had been inadequately trained on Police Scotland’s call handling system before working an overtime shift. In a statement, Henry disclosed that he feels terrible about what had occurred and that the incident lives with him every day. He also added that he was devastated about the role he played in the crash response at the newly reorganised force call centre at Bilston Glen. He also explained how he took a call which he recorded on his notebook, but he wasn’t logged in on the central system at the time.
The inquiry previously heard that farmer John Wilson called Police Scotland after spotting the Renault Clio on the day of the incident. However, Mr. Henry believed that he didn’t know anything about a car when a manager phoned him about the phone call three days later. Henry stated that he felt physically unwell at the thought of his mistake, saying it was the worst phone call you can imagine as a police officer.
The inquiry heard a joint minute of agreement that Mr. Henry could not explain why he neglected to log the call and where he had been inadequately trained by Police Scotland prior to answering calls from the public. According to Mr. Henry’s statement, “As a police officer, I’ve saved lives. It was my duty to protect life and guard property. That is why being involved in this has been so traumatic.”
In September 2021, Police Scotland admitted failures in its system, leading to the death of Ms. Bell. The then-Chief Constable Iain Livingstone apologised “unreservedly” on behalf of policing in Scotland. The force agreed to pay Ms. Bell’s family more than £1m in compensation. Sheriff James Williamson oversees the ongoing inquiry
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