Speeding dad who hit OAP told to expect jail

JURY TAKES LESS THAN AN HOUR TO CONVICT MAN AS VICTIM TELLS OF ORDEAL

A FATHER-of-four who careered into a 78-year-old pensioner while speeding in a faulty car has been told to go home and prepare to be sent to prison.

Following a three-day trial at Nottingham Crown Court, a jury took less than an hour to unanimously find Neil Dean guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving of Audrey Epton.

The victim was crossing Fields Farm Road, in Long Eaton, when she was struck by a Fiesta, which had an issue with its anti-lock braking system being driven by the Ford enthusiast defendant.

The now 81-year-old spent weeks in hospital and then time in a care home before being allowed home to be with her husband.

Giving evidence, she told how the injuries she received in the collision “have stopped me living”.

Handing Dean bail until he sentences him next Friday, April 5, Recorder Paul Mann KC said: “(You have) always been in utter denial about what (you) have done but the driving was not prolonged or persistent and there were no highly dangerous manoeuvres involved. It was just (your) speed.

“I have heard from her (Mrs Epton). She is still able to move, it is more that she needs a lot of exercise before she can move properly.

“It is more the sheer shock of it. I am promising you nothing so if I were you I would come to court next week expecting to go to prison.”

The jury heard how the incident took place on March 4, 2021, when Mrs Epton was walking into Long Eaton from her home. Prosecutor Stuart Pattinson said Dean later told the police his Ford Fiesta car was “a rare high performance” one which had been parked in his garden for two months and that he had informed the DVLA it was “off the road”.

The 37-year-old was travelling at up to 59mph in a 40mph limit in a car with faulty brakes when he collided with the victim.

Opening the trial, Mr Pattinson, said: “This was a road the defendant was familiar with, including where she was struck by the car.

“She was walking from one housing estate to another and the defendant’s vehicle was in a poor state of repair and Mr Dean knew that. “Despite that, he was speeding, knowing he had an issue with his brakes on his car, warning him his anti-lock brake system had a fault.” The prosecutor said: “The defendant was a Ford enthusiast and he told the police he had to dig it out of the garden before driving it and just after midday on March 4, 2021, he turned on the ignition and drove off his estate and onto Wilsthorpe Road. “One of the rear brakes was stuck, therefore the use of the footbrake and handbrake had no extra braking effect.”

Mr Pattinson said Mrs Epton had almost finished crossing the road when she was hit by the

Fiesta. The public and the emergency services came to assist.

After glancing the vehicle, the next thing Mrs Epton remembered was arriving at the QMC having suffered multiple injuries.

Mrs Epton, giving evidence on the first day, said she crossed that road three times a week and on the day of the collision she was on her way into Long Eaton.

She said: “I looked both ways and there was nothing coming either way and then I saw a car coming from nowhere.

“It looked to be coming rather fast. I was 2ft away from the kerb edge and I jumped towards the kerb edge but it still managed to hit me.”

Mr Pattinson asked her how her injuries had affected her life.

She replied: “Quite badly, really, I feel depressed every morning because this has knocked me.

“I used to be an active person, I had a little narrow boat and I used to go walking around Derbyshire with my husband with a picnic.

“But I can’t do any of that now, it has stopped me living, because I am not doing what I enjoyed doing.”

Dean of Laurel Crescent, Long Eaton, will be sentenced next week.

I am promising you nothing so if I were you I would come to court next week expecting to go to prison. Paul Martin KC