TikToker who ignored car’s faulty break warnings jailed for killing grandmother on school run

Friday, 9 January 2026 | UK News

A TikTok content creator has been jailed for nine years after killing a 77-year-old grandmother in a crash involving a car with faulty brakes in North Lanarkshire, Scotland.

Leigh Sutherland, 31, was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow in October 2025. The fatal collision occurred in June 2023 on the Condorrat Ring Road in Cumbernauld.

Margaret Allan, 77, was driving her 10-year-old grandson home from school in her Peugeot 108 when Sutherland’s Ford Mondeo crashed into her vehicle. She later died from her injuries the following month.

The court heard that Sutherland had been warned that the car’s anti-lock braking system was not functioning properly. Despite this, he continued to drive the vehicle at excessive speed, with an unsecured battery, leading to the fatal collision.

In the immediate aftermath of the crash, Sutherland walked away from the scene before being stopped by police. He later gave officers what the sentencing judge described as a “cock and bull story,” claiming that an unidentified Romanian man had been test-driving the car, which was supposedly for sale, at the time of the crash.

Sentencing Sutherland on Friday, Judge Thomas Hughes said his conduct and attitude were “totally and utterly unacceptable.”

“You proceeded to walk away from the area, paying no regard to those you injured and leaving them to their fate,” the judge said.

The court also heard that Sutherland made derogatory comments about his victim and later posted videos about the crash on TikTok while on remand. Judge Hughes described the posts as “totally inappropriate.”

Also known online as Lee Sutherland, the convicted driver had previously uploaded TikTok videos in which he dressed up as a police officer and pretended to be a defence lawyer.

Judge Hughes said the defects in the vehicle’s braking system “must have been quite clear,” yet Sutherland “carried on driving and became involved in the catastrophic incident that happened here.”

In addition to the nine-year prison sentence, Sutherland was disqualified from driving for 13 years and six months. Police Scotland confirmed he had also been banned from driving for six months just one week before the fatal crash.

In mitigation, defence counsel Graham Brown said Sutherland’s life had been “dictated by autistic spectrum disorder” and that he had only worked sporadically.

Reacting to the case, Sergeant Andy Coutts of North Lanarkshire roads policing said: “Our thoughts remain with Margaret’s family, who have been dignified and strong throughout this tragic ordeal.” He added that Sutherland had shown “no remorse.”