Shopper in busy M&S ‘ killed frail widower in trolley rage’
A SHOPPER caused the death of a frail widower by ‘deliberately ramming’ him with her trolley, a court heard yesterday.
Melanie Buck is said to have become frustrated because the food aisles in Marks & Spencer were gridlocked by Christmas shoppers.
When she could not get past 60-yearold Michael Buckley she exchanged heated words with him before knocking him over with her trolley, it was alleged.
Mr Buckley – who suffered from diabetes and weighed only 8st – fell to the floor in the M&S aisle and broke his thighbone and wrist.
When a shop assistant rushed to help him, he allegedly told her: ‘She rammed me.’
The following day, an operation under general anaesthetic to repair 5ft 5in Mr Buckley’s injuries appeared to go well.
But on Christmas Day his condition worsened after he suffered what doctors believe was a heart attack. He was taken into intensive care and put on a lifesupport machine.
Two months later, the decision was taken to turn off the machine and he was pronounced dead.
Prosecuting at Croydon Crown Court yesterday, David Howker QC said Miss Buck, 33, was out shopping with her mother on December 22, 2012.
She arrived at the store in The Glades shopping centre, in Bromley, south-east London, at about 1pm. Mr Buckley, who wore a hearing aid and was described as ‘frail’, arrived after her and the pair bumped into each other in a food aisle.
Mr Howker said: ‘It appears there was something of a gridlock in the aisle and the defendant could not get past him.
‘There may have been a clash between his basket and her trolley and a few words exchanged.
‘But the upshot was that Miss Buck, perhaps out of a sense of frustration, deliberately rammed Mr Buckley with her trolley and the result was to knock him to the floor.’
He added: ‘Miss Buck assaulted Mr Buckley causing him to fall to the floor and injure himself and cause the chain of events that led to his death. She is responsible for that death.’ As she made her way out of the store, the defendant was followed by a shop worker who told her she could not leave, the court heard.
Miss Buck, of Bromley, told her it was an accident, but the assistant ‘disagreed’ and said she would call security if Miss Buck tried to leave. The court heard Mr Buckley lived alone in Forest Hill, southeast London, following the death of his wife in 2010.
Following his death, Miss Buck was charged with manslaughter and an alternative charge of grievous bodily harm. She denies both charges.
When interviewed by police, she said she accidentally bumped into Mr Buckley’s basket as the shop was so busy, and claimed he deliberately hit her trolley with the basket as she apologised.
She told officers she accidentally knocked him down as she tried to get past him with her trolley. In court, Mr Howker admitted Mr Buckley’s health was poor.
‘Miss Buck would not have known that when she rammed him,’ he added. ‘However, her knowledge of Mr Buckley’s condition is irrelevant really. If you assault someone who is not as robust as the next man or who has a particular susceptibility to injury or death then that is your lookout really.
‘You take your victim as you find him … it will be no defence to say that the ordinary healthy man would not have died in similar circumstances.’
The trial continues.
‘Knocked him to the floor’