Driver ‘killed girl graduate at roadworks after jumping traffic light’
A YOUNG graduate was killed by a speeding commuter who ‘gambled on amber’ at traffic lights, a court heard.
Helena Thurm, 25, was walking home after a job interview when she was hit by Glenn Wall’s car as she crossed a busy junction during the rush hour.
She was thrown into the air and suffered multiple injuries, including a ‘catastrophic’ brain injury. She died the following day in hospital.
Office worker Wall, 35, was only a mile from home when he undertook another driver and went through the amber light at roadworks in Timperley, Cheshire, a jury was told.
Despite being in a left-hand lane meant for motorists making left turns only, Wall drove straight on and hit Miss Thurm, it was alleged.
Experts estimated he was driving his Vauxhall Astra at up to 36mph in a 30mph area.
When arrested, married Wall claimed Miss Thurm had been on her mobile phone and was distracted at the time of the collision. But analysis revealed this to be untrue – her phone was not in use at the time of impact, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Miss Thurm, a former pupil at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, had a degree in public relations and digital communications from Manchester Metropolitan University and hoped to go into marketing.
Rob Hall, prosecuting, said that on the day of the accident, in June last year, she had been for a job interview at a fashion retailer in Manchester. At around 5pm she boarded a tram to Timperley as she headed to her family home in nearby Altrincham.
Mr Hall said: ‘On the way she phoned her father and mother to tell them how the interview went and discussed arrangements for that evening, but that would turn out to be their last conversation with their daughter.’
Wall, who worked 25 miles away in Rochdale, was also on his way home to Altrincham when he encountered the roadworks.
Mr Hall said: ‘Those works meant vehicles using the left-hand lane would only be expected to turn left and vehicles were not permitted to turn right. A witness travelling in the right-hand lane noted the lights were changing to amber so he stopped.
‘But this defendant, who
‘Threw her into the air’
was in the left-hand lane, didn’t slow. His response was to see an opportunity to get in front of the witness. He undertook his car and drove straight across the traffic lights where Helena Thurm was crossing. When she saw him approaching in a left only lane she would have been entitled to think he would not be travelling straight onwards.
‘ But he went straight across the crossroads and drove straight through her throwing her into the air, causing multiple injuries including a catastrophic brain injury. The defendant was essentially gambling on an amber light.’
In a police interview, Wall claimed he had not seen any signs saying he could not carry straight on and that they must have been added after the collision.
Miss Thurm’s mother, Sandra, 64, said her daughter ‘didn’t have any problems with her eyesight and crossed that road nearly every day, sometimes twice a day’.
Wall denies causing death by dangerous driving and an alternative charge of causing death by careless driving. The trial continues.