Hi Bookworm,
I agree that the circumstances of our flights are a bit different but they also involved crossing the same bit of weather albeit a few hours later and in a different place. I also had the option of going to Glasgow or Prestwick and following the instrument procedure but also felt this hazardous in the prevailing weather conditions.
It seems that the pilot in question held no IR or IMC and was making the trip in a non-deiced aircraft. If there were going to be any insurmountable areas of cloud (CB) they would have been close to the trough which was at around the accident area at around the accident time (I was watching the weather closely that morning hoping for good news). ATC Analysis may show whether the pilot concerned attempted to go over the top of the weather (the only feasible way to get to Wick on that day in a light single deiced or not) and entered cloud with a high chance of finding an embedded CB and freezing precip causing sudden severe icing or whether he soldiered on through it, but icing seems likely to have been a factor. My TKS deicing buys me a little time (to turn around climb or descend in light or moderate icing conditions), in my opinion severe icing conditions were almost certainly present in the region of the trough as it passed Southwards. This is the part that really scared me and made me bin the flight.
SB