Truck driver who killed bride-to-be in wrong-way horror crash is jailed

A truck driver who ploughed into a bride-to-be’s car, killing her, in a wrong-way horror crash on the A1 has been locked up.

Michael Friel smashed into the vehicle, being driven by Meghan Ambrozevich-Blair, in East Lothian, Scotland, in December 2016.

Meghan, 26, who had recently got engaged, was found dying by her doctor fiancé, who rushed to the scene after hearing the crash.

Her heartbroken family described the couple as soulmates.

Today, Friel, 57, was jailed for three and a half years at Glasgow’s High Court for causing the veterinary student’s death in the crash.

He was also banned from driving for nine years and nine months.

Judge Lord Arthurson told the court that had it not been for Friel’s actions, Edinburgh-born Meghan would have been married last July.

She would have been "living with her husband", Scot Brading, and would have celebrated her 29th birthday on Wednesday.

The student, who was awarded a first class honours degree posthumously by Edinburgh Napier University, "would by now have been well embarked upon her long-chosen and much cherished career path of veterinary nursing", the judge said.

He told Friel: "I do not think that for one moment the regret and remorse which you have expressed, which I accept is on your part wholly sincere, can begin to encompass or even grasp the overwhelming and enduring nature of the grief and pain that your actions have inflicted upon the family of Meghan Ambrozevich-Blair."

The judge added that the victim impact documents he had received from the student’s loved ones "are among the most eloquent and moving statements of this nature which I have required to read in the course of my entire judicial career".

The horrific collision occurred on December 9, 2016.

Friel was driving a Transit Tipper vehicle near Dunbar at around 7.45am when he did a three-point turn on the westbound carriageway.

He then proceeded to drive the wrong way back along the route towards the oncoming rush-hour traffic.

Despite drivers flashing their lights and swerving to avoid him, he continued along the carriageway until he collided with the car being driven by Meghan on her way to work.

The student was discovered fatally injured by Scot, who had heard the devastating collision while walking his dog nearby.

He ran to help – only to discover Meghan was involved.

The couple had got engaged shortly before the tragedy, the Daily Record reported.

Friel pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at the High Court in Edinburgh on January 14.

Prosecutors accepted that he was suffering from "an acute stress reaction" at the time of the crash.

Meghan’s family said their world had fallen apart the day she died.

A statement released on Friel’s conviction said: "We lost an incredible daughter and sister, and her fiancé lost his soulmate and the family they planned to have.

"The suffering we have endured over the last two years since that day has been horrendous – we never thought it was possible to be in so much pain and still be alive."

The family said every motorist bears a "huge responsibility" to drive safely and must be held accountable for their actions.

"Like so many other tragedies, Meghan lost her life in a crash that need not have happened," they said.

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