Man accused of killing elderly couple in head-on crash

A man is to stand trial accused of killing two pensioners from Cornwall in a head-on crash in North Lanarkshire.

Sandy Hamilton is accused of causing the deaths of Giovanni Coppolaro, 85, and his wife Maria, 83, on the A73 in Newhouse on 27 July last year.

The 35-year-old, from Larkhall, denies the charge and another of driving without insurance.

At the High Court in Glasgow, judge Lord Boyd set Mr Hamilton's trial for April next year.

It is alleged that Mr Hamilton overtook a lorry on a bend when it was unsafe to do so and collided with an oncoming car in which Mr and Mrs Coppolaro, who were from St Ives, Cambridgeshire, were passengers.

Mr Coppolaro died in Wishaw General Hospital on 27 July last year. His wife died there on 15 August last year.

Gennaro Coppolaro, the driver of the car the couple were travelling in, was severely injured in the crash.