The sentence of a motorist convicted of killing a cyclist was “unduly lenient”, a court has been told.
Prosecutors are appealing the sentence of Gary McCourt, who was found guilty in April of causing the death of Audrey Fyfe by driving carelessly.
The 75-year-old died two days after McCourt clipped the back wheel of her bike in Edinburgh in August 2011.
McCourt, who was 49 when sentenced in April, was banned from driving for five years and ordered to carry out 300 hours of community service by Sheriff James Scott.
At the end of his trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, it emerged that he was jailed for two years after being convicted in 1986 of causing another cyclist’s death by reckless driving.
George Dalgity, 22, was killed as he cycled along Regent Road in Edinburgh on October 18 1985.
Cycling groups and Mrs Fyfe’s family criticised Sheriff Scott’s sentencing and the Crown lodged an appeal on the grounds it was not tough enough.
A hearing took place before three judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh on Tuesday.
The trial sheriff had erred in applying the sentencing guidelines, resulting in an unduly lenient sentence, Solicitor General Lesley Thomson said.
He had been wrong to reach the conclusion that the accident had been the result of “momentary inattention” on the part of McCourt, the court was told.
McCourt had admitted he had manoeuvred before looking and his failure to carry out the most basic principle of driving had directly resulted in the accident, Ms Thomson said.
She also told the court that insufficient weight had also been placed on McCourt’s previous conviction for killing another cyclist.
Judges Lord Menzies, Lord Glennie and Lady Dorrian said they wanted time to consider their decision and would issue it in a written judgment in the immediate future.