JAIL FOR 130MPH DRIVER WHO KILLED TWO WOMEN

Stephen Macpherson, 44, was at the wheel of the family’s newly bought Peugeot 406 in the Black Isle when it hit a hump-backed bridge at 90mph.

His partner Lynn Paterson, 41, was killed and her mother Margaret McGarvie, 70, died later in hospital.

Seconds before the crash Macpherson’s passengers, who also included two girls aged 15 and 10, begged him to slow down as he hit 130mph.

The filling station sales assistant, who earlier admitted causing the deaths of Ms Paterson and Mrs McGarvie by dangerous driving in April 2007, was yesterday jailed for six years and nine months. He was banned from the road for six years.

Sentencing him at the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord Menzies condemned Macpherson’s “cavalier and dangerous attitude” after hearing he had previously been jailed for nine months for dangerous driving and had convictions involving drink-driving. Earlier, the court heard Ms Paterson, deputy matron in a nursing home, had only picked up the car from a dealer in Inverness on the day of the tragedy.

That night, Macpherson took it for a drive with Mrs McGarvie , his partner and the two girls.

He hit the bridge as they returned towards their home in Balblair. The 15-year-old said she could see the speedometer read 130mph before Macpherson lost control of the car. Accident investigators estimated it hit the bridge at about 90mph .

Andrew Stewart QC, prosecuting, said: “The investigator described the scene as more like an air crash.”