SCOTLAND'S first female chief constable is to face trial after denying that an accident in February in which she and another driver were hurt happened because of careless driving.
Former Fife Constabulary chief Norma Graham, 49, who retired on August 21, was taken to hospital following the incident, in which her Audi Quattro was involved in a collision with a Renault Clio.Both cars were badly damaged.
Mrs Graham was discharged from hospital a few hours later. The driver of the Clio was also injured.
Mrs Graham, who became chief constable of the force in 2008, is accused of losing control of the car on a 90 degree bend during "treacherous" conditions on the B922 Cluny to Kinglassie Road near to the Glenrothes police HQ in February.
Yesterday she appeared for the first time in person at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court. Her lawyer, Colin Simpson, said that she maintained her plea of not guilty to careless driving – and would argue in court that the accident happened due to black ice.
Mr Simpson said it was clear to him from a summary of evidence attached to the charge when the matter first came to court that the prosecution should never have been brought.
He said: "The temperature was four degrees, and there was black ice on the road. My client's position is that she hit the black ice. There is no suggestion of excessive speed."
Sheriff Alistair Thornton refused a Crown request for more time to prepare the prosecution case, and continued the case for trial in December.
When Mrs Graham was first summoned to court in June it was thought to be the first time a serving chief constable in Scotland had appeared in court as an accused.
Following the announcement of her retirement a spokesman said it had nothing to do with the accident or legal proceedings.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article