A 43-year-old woman has admitted careless driving after a pensioner died in a three-car pile-up.

Maureen Duguid struck an oncoming car when she pulled out to overtake a 4x4 while driving along the A93 Aberdeen to Braemar road.

The driver of the other car, Catherine Wilson, 77, died when her silver Suzuki 4x4 left the road and slammed into a wall on April 18, last year.

Duguid, of nearby Aboyne, was due to go on trial charged with death by dangerous driving at the High Court in Aberdeen on Thursday.

But the Crown accepted her guilty plea to the reduced charge of careless driving.

The driver of the third car involved, Carrie Jackson, was not seriously injured in the collision.

Collision investigators later accepted that Duguid was pulling out to check if there were any oncoming vehicles when the accident happened.

The court heard Miss Wilson was not married and had moved to Ballater five years before.

He said she sustained fatal injuries instantly in the crash.

Defence counsel David Moggach said his client had been left traumatised by the death of Miss Wilson.

He said: "It was her day off. She was travelling from Aboyne through to Ballater, out for a leisurely drive and was under no pressure of time.

"She assures me she would not have been driving at excessive speed and would not have been above the speed liit.

"When she did check to see if the road was clear, for whatever reason, she didn't see the oncoming car being driven by Miss Wilson.

"Miss Duguid has been badly affected by the death of Miss Wilson to such an extent that she was prescribed anti-depressants and sleeping tablets."

He said an investigator called in for the defence explained Duguid may not have seen the car due to the shadows of trees.

Mr Moggach said court had been a "thoroughly unpleasant" experience for his client.

He said: "It took a while for her to be persuaded by friends and family that she should start to drive again and it was with some hesitation she did.

"Even though she did start driving she said she can't face driving along that road because of the trauma it caused her."

He said she had also been the victim of "nasty rumours" because of the crash in Aboyne and had avoided going out in the small village.

Lord Woolman deferred sentence until Friday.