Craig Kearney

Craig Kearney was found injured in the road in East Kilbride on 5 March 2017 and died soon after.

A taxi-driver was tried for his murder but the case was found unproven.

The taxi-driver had picked up Craig Kearney and his girlfriend  and another woman in Glasgow just after 1am on 5 March 2017 in his Skoda taxi and after he dropped them off in East Kilbride they had a row and Craig Kearney damaged the taxi. As the taxi-driver then drove off he hit Craig Kearney with his taxi and he later died from head injuries. The prosecution said that after hitting Craig Kearney that the taxi-driver had run him over causing injuries to his head and body.

However, the court heard that there was insufficient evidence that homicide had been committed or that the taxi-driver had even been involved in causing his injuries.

The taxi-driver said that when Craig Kearney got into the taxi that he had struggled with his seatbelt and that when he tried to help Craig Kearney shouted at him asking him what he was doing and that he became frightened. He said that as they drove along that Craig Kearney also complained about the route and made threats.

The taxi-driver said that after he dropped them off and got back into his taxi to leave that he saw Craig Kearney with a brick or stone and that he had been in the middle of the road and that as he drove off that he clipped him, noting that he was afraid that Craig Kearney might have smashed his windscreen. He said that when he drove off that Craig Kearney was definitely conscious and 'animated'.

After driving off the taxi-driver continued his shift.

However, at the court the taxi-driver admitted that he had allowed video footage taken by a device in his taxi to be erased and it was further heard that he had washed his car in what was described as an effort to destroy evidence.

Craig Kearney was later found in a pool of blood with head injuries. A pathologist said that he would have died within minutes of receiving his injuries.

The court heard that Craig Kearney had been left to die in the dark.

His girlfriend had been in the taxi with him and said 'I remember me and my friends talking in the back and Craig being quite cheeky to the driver. I remember him saying 'specky'', noting that the taxi-driver had worn glasses.

She said they had been picked up in Glasgow after 1am and that when the taxi stopped to let her friend out that things began to get heated in the taxi between Craig Kearney and the taxi-driver and that she decided to get out of the taxi in case things escalated.

She said that she tried to pay the taxi-driver but said that the taxi-driver jumped out of his taxi and that he dropped the money. She said, 'I don't know what happened to that money as I didn't have all the money and had to ask Craig for money'.

She said that Craig Kearney and the driver then started to go round the taxi as if they wanted to fight. In her statement she said, 'Craig went towards the back of the taxi and they were still arguing and shouting at each other as if both of them wanted to start fighting. There was no physical contact and the car was always between them. I can't remember the words exactly but I thought there was going to be a fight. It was like the driver wanted to fight, he jumped out the taxi but once they got out they both moved round the car as if there was going to be a fight'.

She said that she then pulled the taxi-drivers shirt and broke off some of his shirt buttons and that she and Craig Kearney started to walk off home. However, she said that the taxi-driver followed them and that she paid him what she thought was for a second time. She said that Craig Kearney then went to the toilet at a garage but that the taxi-driver continued to keep tabs on them.

She said, 'He mentioned something about the police and mentioning he knew where my friend stayed'.

She said that she then walked past Craig Kearney and went home and locked her door and that was the last she saw of Craig Kearney. She said, 'The last time I saw him he was standing near the garage. He was two or three car lengths away from the taxi'.

She said that she had walked off home alone thinking that Craig Kearney had been following her and that she had gone to sleep and was next woken up by her mother at 5am who told her that Craig Kearney had been found in the street injured.

When Craig Kearney's girlfriend was asked whether she had walked off because she was fed up with Craig Kearney's carry on, she said, 'He wasn't behind me and I just assumed he would have been taken by the police'.

Craig Kearney had been an amateur footballer with AFC Bonnyholm.

His father later said that he thought that the 'not proven' verdict should be scrapped, saying that it was the worst verdict.