A grieving widow whose “heroic” RAF veteran husband died after his bicycle struck a bin lorry has been awarded compensation by jurors for her loss.
Jurors concluded the amount 55-year-old Katrina Ronald should receive from Perth and Kinross Council is £1,319,750 – although the figure will be adjusted to reflect shared blame.
Mrs Ronald went to the Court of Session in Edinburgh because of the circumstances surrounding how her husband William, 46, lost his life on May 25 2018 in rural Kinross-shire.
She also sued on behalf of her 12-year-old daughter Honey, who the court heard struggles with grief and sleeps every night with her father’s ashes, which are stored in a teddy bear.
The jurors concluded the damages figure Honey should be awarded was £95,000.
Two other members of Mr Ronald’s family had their damages figure assessed at £67,500 each.
The court heard how Mr Ronald had been riding his bike on the Greenknowes to Watergate Farm Road near Cleish when his bike collided with the Perth and Kinross Council refuse truck.
Mrs Ronald wept in court as she recalled the moment she discovered he had died.
On Thursday, jurors were also asked to assess whether Mr Ronald acted negligently in the collision.
The jurors concluded he did act negligently and was 58% responsible for the collision, with the damages accordingly reduced by that amount.
They said the council employee driving the bin lorry, Jordan Paterson, was 42% responsible.
Afghanistan hero
Earlier this week, Mrs Ronald, from Kelty, told the court she arrived at the accident site after going to look for her husband when he did not return from his bike ride.
She saw the air ambulance leave and a police officer told her Mr Ronald had been killed.
She told how she met RAF mechanic in 2007, married in 2009 and had a daughter together, who was “completely smitten” with her dad.
Mrs Ronald said her husband had been in “heroic” situations when he was in the RAF and won a medal during service in Afghanistan but was very “modest” speaking about his service.
‘No sum of money will bring him back’
On Thursday, Mr Milligan urged jurors to award compensation to Mrs Ronald for their loss.
He added: “No amount of money will ever bring back Mrs Ronald’s husband.
“No sum of money will give her back another Christmas, another birthday or a wedding anniversary.
“It won’t allow them to sit on the couch and watch TV together.
“But she was not given time to prepare for this.
“It came out of the blue. It came on a warm sunny May day.”
Bin lorry was at ‘appropriate speed’
Accident investigators recovered a bike computer made by GPS firm Garmin, from Mr Ronald’s bike.
It showed that in the moments leading up to the accident, he was travelling at 16mph and had previously reached 30 mph.
The bin lorry was travelling at around 11mph in the moments before the crash.
In his closing speech to the jury, Ranald Macpherson, the advocate for Perth and Kinross Council, said Mr Paterson was driving safely and acted appropriately.
He said: “The bicycle was going too fast.
“Mr Paterson was driving at an appropriate speed. There was nothing more he could have done.
“This was a terrible accident which had tragic consequences.
“However, it was not an accident which was caused by Mr Paterson.”
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