A top lawyer has been found not guilty of causing the deaths of three people in a road crash.

Andrew Houston was behind the wheel of an Audi A4 which collided head-on with a Jeep on the A9 in July 2013.

His wife Abigail Houston, 42, daughter Mia, seven, and 62-year-old physician Mohammad Hayajneh all died in the crash.

Houston was found guilty of driving carelessly but not guilty of causing their deaths at Inverness Sheriff Court on Thursday. He was fined £1000 and banned from driving for one year.

The Jeep Cherokee was driven by 59-year-old Ursula Hayajneh, Dr Hayajneh’s wife, who survived the collision.

A Peugeot 206 carrying four Polish tourists managed to avoid the collision by swerving off the road and crashing into a road sign.

Houston, whose ten-year-old daughter Lily was badly injured but survived, is a senior partner with McSporrans solicitors in Edinburgh.

Derek McLean, a partner with Thompsons Solicitors, who represents the Hayajneh family, said: “Clearly, this has been an absolutely tragic case for all concerned.

"However, today’s verdict, which comes more than two and a half years after the accident, has left my clients shocked, disappointed and, frankly, bewildered.

"The jury appear to have decided that Mr Houston was guilty of careless driving in crossing over onto the wrong side of the road, but, bizarrely, they have also decided that the horrific consequences which followed were somehow not caused by that carelessness.

" I am afraid that I can find no logic whatsoever in that. The Hayajneh family feel badly let down by the Scottish criminal justice system and will now seek answers in the civil courts.

"It must also be said that the A9 between Inverness and Perth has been the scene of far too many fatal and serious accidents over the years and ought to have been upgraded to dual carriageway status long before now."