DEATHS CRASH TEENAGER CLEARED

Newly passed driver who lost control left 'broken' by loss

- TIM BUGLER

THE teenage driver of a car that spun out of control and hit a lorry - killing his two best friends walked free from court yesterday.

Charles Gray was cleared of causing the deaths of pals Jayden McConnell, 17, and Kyle Marshall, 19, by careless driving in the collision on a known "greasy corner" on the A91 near Bannockburn Interchange - a huge roundabout linking the M9, M80 and other roads.

After a five-day trial, jurors took less than two and a half hours to find Gray, 19, not guilty.

Gray's relatives and members of the families of the deceased were silent on the public benches at Stirling Sheriff Court as the majority verdict was announced.

Sheriff Euan Gosney told Gray: "You are free to go." Gray, then 17, had passed his test only the month before the tragedy, on St Patrick's Day last year. The court heard his 2006 Vauxhall Corsa had just left Stirling Services and went out of control on a wet road about 3.50pm, shortly after leaving the roundabout and joining the A91.