US man to appear via video link in court over horror Highland crash

A US citizen has admitted seriously injuring himself and another man after causing a horror car crash in the Highlands.

Matthew Lindgren (42) veered onto the opposite side of the road into the path of an oncoming car while on a summer holiday in the region.

He and his family had been travelling back from the Isle of Skye towards the central belt when they were involved in the accident on June 28 last year.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard Lindgren had been driving a white Peugeot at the time and had swerved onto the wrong side of the road on a bend the A887 near its junction with the A87 after realising they had missed their turning.

However another car, a blue Audi A4, was coming in the opposite direction and the two cars struck each other head-on and came off the road.

Emergency vehicles were called to the scene and both Lindgren, of Seldom Seen Road, Sandpoint, Idaho, and the driver of the other car (46) had to be cut free from the wreckage.

Lindgren suffered two broken ankles, a liver laceration and bleeding on the brain as a result of the crash.

Both drivers had to be airlifted to hospital in Inverness to receive serious medical attention.

Lindgren's passengers were said to have suffered minor injuries.

He did not personally appear in court to tender his guilty plea to the charge of causing serious injury by careless driving.

His solicitor David Mackenzie said this was due to the oil field engineer living in America.

However Sheriff Robert Frazer said in reply: "This is a very serious accident."

The sheriff deferred sentence and ordered the court to make arrangements for Lindgren to appear via video link on February 2 due to the seriousness of the offence.