Lorry driver jailed for killing pregnant nurse in Edinburgh crash

A lorry driver who killed a pregnant nurse in a motorway crash has been jailed for almost three years.

Trevor Norgate’s HGV drifted on to the hard shoulder of the M8, near Hermiston Gait in Edinburgh, where 41-year-old Evelyn Brown had stopped her car.

Ms Brown, who was 34 weeks pregnant, died from her injuries along with her unborn child.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Norgate, 58, from Bellshill in Lanarkshire, had become distracted before the crash on 18 December 2023.

Dashcam footage shown in court showed Ms Brown’s car stationary on the hard shoulder with its lights on and Norgate’s lorry veering off from a lane.

He was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison and was also banned from driving for four years and eight months.

Norgate had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of causing death by dangerous driving.

Sentencing Norgate, Judge Lord Armstrong said: “No sentence that I can impose can in any sense be a measure of the value of the lives that have been lost nor provide a comfort to the family whose lives have been devastated.

“Their lives have been changed radically for the worse.”

The court heard Norgate had six points on his licence following a previous offence related to using a mobile phone while driving.

Nigeria-born Ms Brown was the mother of two young children.

She worked as an agency nurse and had finished a 12-hour shift at East Lothian Community Hospital in Haddington on the day of the crash.

Earlier court proceedings heard that she had texted her sister to tell her she was on her way home.

Defence advocate David Nicolson KC said the lorry driver was “utterly devastated” about the loss of Ms Brown’s life.