Hit-run death driver weeps as she is spared jail
HIT-AND-RUN MOTORIST RAN OVER MAN AS SHE WAS ON HANDS-FREE CALL
A HIT-AND-RUN driver who killed a 77-year-old man while she was having a ‘hands-free’ phone conversation with her boyfriend at the wheel of her car wept as she was fined £500.
Anna Edwards, 25, was speaking legally through a car headset to her partner – but she failed to spot Brian Croxon, who had slipped on cobbles and fallen into the road ahead of her, on Sandy Lane in Oldham.
Despite another car in front taking evasive action, Edwards, an administrative assistant for healthcare provider BUPA, drove over Mr Croxon as he lay in the road – then carried on driving.
As other motorists stopped to attend to the dying man, Edwards briefly returned to the scene – then drove past slowly before slinking away.
As the verdict was returned by the jury, Edwards turned and said ‘sorry’ to Mr Croxon’s family, who were sitting in the public gallery – but they ignored her. The family left court without comment.
Mr Croxon, a former president of the Royton Brass Band Club in Oldham for 20 years, suffered fatal injuries in the impact outside the club’s premises.
He died shortly afterwards.
Edwards was arrested later but claimed she thought she had hit a pile of rubbish left dumped in the road. It emerged one of headlamps on her Ford Fiesta was not working properly.
At Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, Edwards stood trial accused of causing death by careless driving with prosecutors accusing her of being ‘distracted’ by the phone call.
But she was cleared of the charge, having earlier admitted failing to stop or report an accident. Her licence was endorsed with eight penalty points – but she was spared a driving ban. Motorists are banned from using handheld phones at the wheel but can legally use hands-free kits to field calls. The tragedy occurred at 11pm on December 8 last year while Edwards was in the middle of a four-minute phone call with her boyfriend. “One of her dipped headlights was not working on the day of the incident and there’s evidence to suggest that it had not been working for about three weeks,’’ said Kevin Donnelly, prosecuting. “At the time of the collision, she was in a conversation with somebody, although she was using a car headset, which is not unlawful.’’ Mr Croxon, who visited the brass band club six nights a week, had arrived at around 9.10pm and left just under two hours later. Outside the club at 11pm he was seen to stumble on cobbles at a road junction before falling into the path of a Citroen Picasso driven by Kelly Winstanley. Mr Donnelly added: “Miss Winstanley describes him as standing on a cobbled surface of road and as she approached, something caused him to stumble into the road directly in front of her. Miss Winstanley’s instant reac- tion was to swerve to the right to avoid hitting him. She then swerved back into her own lane and she looked in her mirror and saw him motionless.
“The prosecution’s case is that Anna Edwards did not swerve to avoid hitting Brian Croxon, and did not brake to come to a halt.’’ CCTV footage examined by police showed Edwards was travelling below the 30mph speed limit behind Miss Winstanley’s Citroen.
“She did not stop, she drove past the scene slowly and then she drove on,” the prosecution added.
She told the trial she was speaking to her boyfriend as ‘she wanted company’ and denied claims she was distracted.
She said: “We had been arguing because we hadn’t seen each other much lately and we were just deciding whether to see each other.”
She denied arguing with her boyfriend while at the wheel.
When asked whether she realised Mr Croxon was lying in the road, she said: “It didn’t look like a person – I thought it was rubbish. I was so scared. I saw people and cars all together and I was petrified.”
Sentencing, Judge Bernadette Baxter told Edwards: “I understand this has been a stressful time for you and you are genuinely remorseful. I hope you understand just how dangerous that behaviour was.”
It didn’t look like a person. I thought it was rubbish. I was so scared Anna Edwards