Woman's ordeal as husband dies in remote mountains

Gladys Young spent nine hours with her husband, John, after he collapsed while walking in the Scottish Highlands on Friday night.

The retired couple, from Winlaton, near Gateshead, had been rambling in part of west Scotland known as the Great Wilderness, when Mr Young collapsed at about 7pm.

The 71-year-old former train driver died on the footpath between Kernsary and Poolewe, in Wester Ross, Scotland's Northern Constabulary said.

Mrs Young, also 71, stayed by her husband's body, enduring cold and wet weather conditions, before leaving him at first light, at about 4am, to find help.

She walked across a hillside until she reached a cottage where she alerted police, who then contacted Dundonnell Mountain Rescue team at 7am.

A police spokesman said Mrs Young suffered shock and mild hypothermia.

Mountain rescue team leader Bill Amos said the area where the couple had been walking was off the main trail.

"Considering what that poor old lady had been through, she did very well to walk off the hill in the morning," he said.

Fellow team member Mike Walker, an emergency medical technician who collates information on scores of rescues each year, yesterday paid tribute to Mrs Young.

He said: "She must be an incredibly brave lady to spend so long in the open, coping physically and emotionally.

"It was a very wet night, and although she was wearing waterproofs and warm clothing, the conditions would still have been awful.

"Even for a fit older person it is not easy walking and staying out in the area.

"There are tracks across the area, but you can end up miles away from anywhere. The couple were on the edge of a very remote area.

"She will have been in shock at first, and may not have known for sure her husband had passed away. It must have been a comfort for her to stay close to him until she could face walking out of there."

Police said a report is to be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal at Dingwall, near Inverness.