A PRIMARY school teacher has been banned from the road after admitting causing the death of a mother-of-four from Denholm by careless driving.

Three of Kirsty Parker's children were in the car when it was involved in a head-on collision with a Peugeot driven by 28-year-old Roddy Graham.

Jedburgh Sheriff Court was told a "momentary lack of attention" resulted in Graham swerving onto the opposite carriageway to avoid colliding with a Transit van and into the path of Ms Parker's Vauxhall Zafira.

His lawyer Ed Hulme explained his client had not noticed the van he was following from a safe distance slowing down to turn right into a junction because the brake lights were not working.

He said at that moment the sun reflected in his eyes from the rear view mirror and the driver adjusted the mirror.

Mr Hulme said:"When he looked up the rear of the van was coming towards him and there was no time to avoid a collision. He pulled over to one side as he did not think anything was coming but of course there was."

He added:"The lack of brake lights on the van is a major factor here."

Mr Hulme said that Graham did not recall seeing an indicator light at the time either.

He explained it was an unfortunate series of events which had "devastating consequences.".

Mr Hulme said this included for his client as well and he had not driven since the incident.

Graham - of Denholm, - had  various fractures and was off work for four months.

Ms Parker, 34, suffered a fatal neck injury and her three sons, aged one, nine and 12 had minor injuries following the collision on the A698 road near Denholm on the afternoon of Thursday, February 11, last year.

He was disqualified from driving for 12 months and ordered to carry out 90 hours unpaid work as part of a one year Community Pay Back Order which was imposed as a direct alternative to custody.

Sheriff Peter Paterson explained in passing sentence that with such cases and while not ignoring the tragic consequences, the level of criminality had to be taken into account.

He said:"The first thing I have to say is that the court extends its sincere condolences to all members of the family affected by this tragic event.

"When considering a sentence the court is primarily concerned with the criminality involved.

"The court does not disregard the consequences however, but is primarily looking at the degree of wrongfulness involved.

"If the driving was dangerous or of a wilful nature then that makes the criminality higher.

"There was a momentary lack of attention - that I have to accept and also to reflect that in the sentence."