Case against death claim taxi driver is reopenedA TAXI driver accused of lying about a teenager's murder has had his case resurrected five months after it was dropped.
John Ross, 58, is alleged to have made false allegations to detectives investigating the final hours of Dean Geary, 19, who was found dead with head injuries on a road near Drymen, in West Stirlingshire.
The case against him was discontinued in November as a prosecution witness was unavailable due to ill health, with the Crown Office stating: "Further proceedings are not contemplated at this time."
But yesterday at Stirling Sheriff Court, where proceedings were resurrected, Ross's lawyer, Fraser McCready, argued that the Crown was acting unreasonably in holding the proceedings over his client's head for such a long time.
Mr McCready said: "This is a cited case and there is a plea of oppression.
"I will be seeking a diet of debate as there has been a delay in proceedings."
Mr Geary, an MoD administrator who worked at Coulport on Loch Long, had been out with friends in Glasgow city centre on the night before his death. His friends last saw him in a club in Queen Street around 1am on February 7, 2010.
He was found four-and-a-half hours later on the A811 Drymen-Gartocharn road, around eight miles from his home in Alexandria, Dunbartonshire. He was lying on his back with his hands in his pockets and a post-mortem examination revealed he had suffered serious head injuries.
Police at first thought he may have been the victim of an assault or a hit-and-run, and detectives from two forces spoke to taxi drivers and members of the public and delivered 500 leaflets in a bid for information.
After an extensive probe, Central Scotland Police said that Mr Geary, who had his heart set on a police career, died as a result of an accidental collision with a car.
Ross, of Kirkintilloch Road, Bishopbriggs, is alleged to have made a series of false allegations to police three days after Mr Geary was killed, lying that he had taken Mr Geary from Glasgow to the Drymen area with two other men, whom he claimed then murdered the teenager.
Sheriff William Gilchrist set the debate for May 9.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/crim ... d.17337882
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