PIRC submits M9 crash report to Lord Advocate

The Commissioner submitted an interim report to the Lord Advocate in November.

They will now consider the findings in this further report before deciding what appropriate action should be taken.

A spokesman for the PIRC said: “The commissioner has now submitted a further report to the Lord Advocate on her independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of John Yuill, 28, and Lamara Bell, 25, following the recovery of a car close to the motorway at Bannockburn on 8 July 2015.

“The commissioner’s investigators pursued numerous lines of enquiry, including why a telephone call made to Police Scotland on 5 July 2015, which reported a car off the road, was not followed up.

“The commissioner also examined the procedures used by Police Scotland to log the particular call made on 5 July 2015.

“The investigation also looked at the robustness of Police Scotland’s missing person enquiry and why this was not linked with the information received in the telephone call.”

He added: “This has been an exhaustive investigation which has required many different facets of the incident to be fully explored.

“The Lord Advocate will now consider the content of the commissioner’s reports and it is a matter for them to decide what further action they consider to be appropriate.

“Their consideration will include whether to hold a fatal accident enquiry or institute criminal proceedings.”