Quad biker killed pensioner by running her down on pavement

A man who killed a pensioner after mounting a pavement on a quad bike while driving after taking drink and drugs has been jailed for four years and nine months.

Kurt Kilgour, 25, bought the Honda off-road vehicle on Gumtree shortly before he struck Margaret Meldrum, 75, in the Knightswood area of Glasgow on July 13, 2019.

Kilgour failed to brake and take evasive action and knocked his victim down as she was going to a local shop, inflicting fatal injuries on her.

On Tuesday, a judge at the High Court in Edinburgh told him: “You were under the influence of drink and drugs and your alcohol reading was over the legal limit.”

Lord Burns said: “This was the first time you had driven this vehicle apparently.”

He added that Kilgour should not have been driving it on a public road in the first place.

The judge said that during an interview with a social worker who prepared a background report on Kilgour he had “tried to minimise” his responsibility by falsely claiming that he had to swerve to avoid an oncoming vehicle.

He added: “It is doubtful that you were telling the truth when you said you had not consumed alcohol and drugs that day.”

Lord Burns said: “You were 23 years of age at the time of this offence and I have to take account of the fact you will have to reintegrate yourself into society after the inevitable custodial sentence has been served.”

“Your remorse, to which your counsel referred, is somewhat undermined by your minimisation of responsibility to the social worker,” he said.

The judge told Kilgour, formerly of Great Western Road, Glasgow, that he would have faced a six-year sentence, but for his guilty plea. He was banned from driving for eight years and ten months.

Kilgour earlier admitted causing the death of Mrs Meldrum by driving dangerously after having consumed alcohol and controlled drugs. Prior to mounting the pavement at Millbrix Avenue he repeatedly drove on the opposing carriageway.

The incident was captured in footage taken by a friend of Kilgour. Mrs Meldrum’s husband William died after the death of his wife of 46 years.

Two people living nearby went to the aid of the stricken pensioner after she was struck by the quad bike and left trapped. Firefighters managed to free her and paramedics attended to her but she died after sustaining head, neck and chest injuries.

When Kilgour was traced he was smelling of alcohol. He told police he had put the bike into fourth gear and lost control.

Prosecutor Leanne McQuillan said: “He disclosed that he had been consuming alcohol, cocaine and valium throughout the course of the previous few days.”

It emerged that Kilgour only held a provisional licence and that the quad bike could not be legally used on public roads.

Defence counsel Tony Graham QC said: “The consequences of that particular day he sees as the ultimate irresponsibility on his part – an irresponsibility that has consumed human life and that is something that has troubled him to this day and he expects to trouble him for the rest of his life.”