Four years’ jail for mum who killed school head teacher in head-on crash
A WOMAN who killed a respected Derbyshire head teacher in a head-on collision has been sentenced to less than five years in prison.
Paula Kingdon was driving back home when Ann Marie Crook hurtled the wrong way along a motorway slip road and caused the fatal accident, described in court as a deliberate act.
The vehicle in front of Ms Kingdon’s Honda Jazz swerved to get out of Crook’s way, leaving the 64-year-old with no opportunity to avoid a crash.
Crook has been sentenced to four years and eight months’ jail for causing death by dangerous driving.
She will serve a threeyear driving ban following her release from prison which could be as early as two years and four months into her sentence.
Ms Kingdon and Crook both had to be cut out of their vehicles and taken to Aintree Hospital, in Liverpool. Mumof-two Crook, of Cheviot Avenue in St Helens, Merseyside, spent time in a critical condition but survived.
Ms Kingdon had been driving home after visiting her Kirkby-based fatherin-law, who she helped care for several days a week, and after having seen Liverpool FC play. She was from Merseyside but lived in Sheffield and had been the head teacher of Westfield Infants School, near Chesterfield.
Crooks, 43, had shocked drivers over the course of five miles at around 9.30am on October 31, 2019. She reached speeds of almost 100mph.
Crook turned down the M57 slip road, almost hitting a lorry head on before joining the motorway and driving at traffic heading in the opposite direction. The court heard the vehicle in front of Ms Kingdon’s Honda Jazz swerved to get out of Crook’s way, leaving the 64-year-old with no opportunity to avoid a crash.
Chris Hopkins, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court passing drivers used their lights and horns in a bid to get the attention of Crook. One witness said: “He could see her hands on the steering wheel. She was looking forward and appeared to be driving in a determined manner.”
When interviewed by police, Crook said she had no recollection of the incident and suggested she “had taken a wrong turn and panicked”.
Mr Hopkins said: “The fact that that explanation is maintained by the defendant is something which has caused great distress to family members of the victim.”
The court heard Crook could offer no reason for a collection of photos of motorway junctions, bridges and crash scenes recovered from her phone.
Mr Hopkins read a powerful statement on behalf of Stephen Sharples, the brother of Ms Kingdon. He detailed the “compassion” his sister displayed and the positive impact she had on so many lives through her work in education, latterly in Derbyshire.
Mr Sharples said: “After a life time of devoting herself to others, Paula deserved the chance to enjoy her retirement... it is heartbreaking to me that Paula had this opportunity for a new chapter in her life taken away by the senseless actions of this stranger.”
Sarah Griffin, defending, said Crook had previously been “a woman of positive good character who had worked all her life, who is clearly dedicated to her children and is someone who could regularly be found helping family, friends and neighbours”.
Ms Griffin said Crook had not driven since the crash, and planned to never drive again.
Judge Garrett Byrne addressed Ms Kingdon’s family as he told the court: “No sentence can restore Paula and no sentence can possibly compensate for her loss.”
The judge told Crook: “In my view the collision can be properly characterised as a deliberate act. You must have realised at the time that your driving was bound to cause someone at least serious harm, if not their death.”
A letter written to Judge Byrne by Crook ended with her claiming she had “no explanation” for her actions.
Highlighting the evidence that Crook made no attempt to avoid a crash, he concluded it was not “a case of taking a wrong turn and then panicking, it was a deliberate course of conduct”.
The judge added that, if it had been Crook’s intention to harm herself, it was “a profoundly selfish one because you were prepared to injure or kill others” in achieving that goal.
Crook admitted one count of causing death by dangerous driving. She was sentenced to four years and eight months and banned from driving for three years after her release.