Moray mum's fight for legal change following teenage son's death

A grieving Moray mum is campaigning for a change in the law in memory of her teenage son, who died after being hit by a car on the A96.

In the early hours of February 29, 2020 Fabian Hall (19) was walking home from a friend's birthday party in Forres when he was hit by a car. The teenager died just yards from his home on the outskirts of Brodie and no charges were ever brought against the off-duty police officer, who was driving the car.

On the four year anniversary of his death, Fabian's family, friends and members of the community gathered to walk the five miles between the two towns, to commemorate his life and raise awareness, as they continue to fight for a cycling and walking path as well as for legal change.

Fabian's mum, Maria Hall, believes key parts of the investigation into her son's death were flawed and she is now campaigning for a change in the law, to match English law, where all deaths are subject to a public inquest.

Maria said: "The legal system has totally let us down. In every other part of the UK if there is a death it is mandatory that they have an inquest, but in Scotland, the Procurator Fiscal and Crown Prosecution Service are able to decide whether it's important enough and in the public interest to have a case and they decided my son wasn't important enough.

"We can't grieve properly. I can hear my son, he hated injustice and especially against him, so I can't just give up. If you forget to get your road tax renewed you get an endorsement, but there is no proof on record anywhere that the driver killed a pedestrian."

Also attending the walk was Abe Humphreys, who lives near Kinloss. Seven years ago, Abe's brother Tim was walking home from visiting a friend in John o' Groats and was killed on the road.

Abe said: "Last week was the anniversary of my brother Tim's death. He was in a very similar situation to Fabian and the driver was never charged. We appealed that decision as high as we could but still to this day we don't know what happened. In England there would have been a public hearing and an inquiry.

"My brother had four children and we will never give up trying to get answers. We're still holding out and hoping for justice. We are very supportive of Fabian's mum. We want to justice system to recognise that you can't just leave families hanging like that – a change in the law and a change in the system where there was an automatic inquest would be of great benefit."

After the walk, friends and family met at a lay-by near Fabian's home to remember the boxing-mad 19-year-old. Fabian's sister, Luthian Lark, said: "Fabian was a legend. He had such a good network of friends and a great social life but he also really liked reading. He was really into philosophy and politics. He had just been accepted into the RAF and was really excited about joining and getting to travel a bit through the RAF."

Maria added: "The walk has been really joyful. I think everyone feels a sense of achievement, remembrance and mourning and the whole thing has renewed my faith. The support has been incredible and it makes me cry to have so many people coming together to remember Fabian. I'm so glad to have met Abe and several other families and we will keep fighting. The law has to be changed in Scotland. This is a terrible way to treat deeply bereaved families."