A family were lost in grief on Tuesday as the man accused of causing the death of a student at Abertay University walked free from court.
Tears flowed after the jury took little more than an hour to deliver a not proven verdict against Euan Tennant.
The 22-year-old learner driver was behind the wheel of his Toyota MR2 when it was involved in a head-on collision with another vehicle, claiming the life of his passenger and girlfriend Laura Campbell (22).
Tennant had denied driving carelessly, blaming the road conditions and an unidentified substance on the road surface for causing the accident.
Tennant had also denied driving too fast, though witnesses claimed he had been travelling at excessive speed for the conditions.
During evidence at Perth Sheriff Court he told the jury he had ”gone through hell and back” since the accident and thought of Laura and her family every day.
The trial heard Tennant had lost control of his vehicle while negotiating a bend on the A93 Perth to Blairgowrie road, near to Balboughty Farm Cottages, Scone, on September 22 2010.
The car slid on to the opposite carriageway and collided with a Ford Explorer 4×4 being driven by architect William Normand. The passenger side of Tennant’s car, where Miss Campbell was sitting, took the brunt of the impact.
During closing speeches, depute fiscal Charmaine Cole asked the jury to find that Tennant had been driving at excessive speed. She said the accident had been caused by his careless driving, which had resulted in a ”catastrophic loss of control”.
This caused injuries to both the accused, Mr Normand and his passenger, Paul Hirst, and the death of Miss Campbell.
However, the jury delivered a majority verdict of not proven against Tennant, of York Place, Edinburgh, having failed to be convinced by the Crown case.
Miss Campbell, a former Kilgraston pupil from Woodlands Road, Blairgowrie, had just started the third year of a business studies degree. She had been an employee at Marks & Spencer in Perth for six years and had been hoping to get on to the company’s graduate management training programme after she completed her studies.
Miss Campbell’s family were too upset to comment on the jury’s decision.
Mr Tennant also declined to comment on the verdict that allowed him to walk free from court.