The family of a Wishaw teenager knocked down and killed by a speeding driver have spoken out after he avoided a prison sentence.
Brian Buchanan struck 15-year-old Steven McIlquham on New Year’s Day, 2020 before driving away from the scene.
Steven had visited his grandparents before starting to walk home when tragedy struck in Wishaw’s Alexander Street around 9.30pm.
His worried mother Amanda had gone to Motherwell Police Station to report him missing but while she was there officers told her he had been involved in a fatal collision.
Buchanan, of Shotts, appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court and admitted causing death by careless driving.
The 22-year-old also pled guilty to failing to stop and give details in the aftermath of the incident.
Sheriff Martin Jones KC said Buchanan, who has a record for careless driving and speeding, must perform 300 hours of unpaid work.
He was tagged for six months and placed under supervision for the next two years.
He was also banned from driving for three years and ordered to sit the extended driving test before he can regain his licence.
The sheriff said he was ‘constrained’ in his sentence because of current guidelines on sentencing people under the age of 25.
In a statement released via Digby Brown Solicitors, Steven’s family said: “No sentence will ever be enough – we will never forgive that man for driving away because it’s just not human to do that.
“Steven would have been 18 a couple of weeks ago and you can’t imagine how it feels to go to a graveyard for your child’s birthday.
“We have been truly touched to see his friends also there who attended off their own back as this shows the love people had for Steven and shows the kind of support they have shown our family as we have tried to come to terms with things over the last two-and-a-half years.
“Everyone around here knows that road is a risk and the council needs to get cameras, lights or a zebra crossing installed to protect others – because Steven cannot have died in vain.”
Previously, the court heard Steven was hit by Buchanan’s Volkswagen Golf as he crossed the road – where the speed limit is 30mph – at around 9.30pm.
Police investigators estimated Buchanan’s speed at around 45mph at the point of impact.
Steven was pronounced dead at the scene.
Buchanan, who had been on his way to a nearby McDonald’s for food, drove on with his windscreen shattered and returned to his girlfriend’s home in Pather.
Harry Findlay, prosecuting, told the court: “He looked shocked and upset.
“She questioned him and he said ‘I think someone ran out in front of me. What do I do now?’
“He was advised to attend the police station but before doing so he phoned his father in a hysterical state.”
Buchanan, of Shotts, told officers that he panicked and drove on after the collision.
Mr Findlay said that Steven might not have heard the approaching car because he was wearing a hat and ear buds, and might have been using his mobile phone.
He might not have realised how fast the Golf was travelling.
However, the prosecutor added: “The accused failed to react in the appropriate way to the presence of Steven on the carriageway.
"He failed to observe him despite having a maximum view of approximately 350 metres.”
The court heard that Buchanan has a previous conviction for careless driving.
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