Retracing McRae helicopter’s final trip

AN EERIE tour through the Clyde Valley on Tuesday retraced the final journey and relived the last minutes in the lives of four people.
By The Newsroom
Published 25th Jan 2011, 18:44 BST

They were those of 39-year-old Lanark rallying star Colin McRae, his five-year- old son Johnny, the child’s six-year-old Braidwood friend Ben Porcelli and family friend Graeme ‘Big G’ Duncan (37).

All perished when McRae’s helicopter crashed as it returned to the former World Champion’s home at Jerviswood on the outskirts of Lanark on September 15, 2007.

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On the second day of the second week of the eight scheduled for the Fatal Accident Inquiry into the deaths, proceedings left Lanark Sheriff Court for three and a half hours while the course of the final leg of that fatal flight were followed, on the ground, by Sheriff Nikola Stewart, her clerk and the legal teams.

Following a legal action by the BBC the previous day, the press were allowed to follow, apart from at the McRae Jerviswood estate – deemed off limits to all but the Inquiry team.

For more on this story, pick up a copy of this week’s Carluke and Lanark Gazette which is in the shops now.