Alice’s death ‘not my fault’, driver insists at inquest
CORONER RULES PENSIONER DID NOT SUFFER MEDICAL EPISODE BEFORE CAR RAN OVER HER
A GRIEVING family have expressed their relief after a coroner ruled a mum-of-five did not suffer a medical episode before she was run over by her neighbour.
Alice Gilchrist died after being hit by a car which was reversing from a driveway in Ashton-in-Makerfield on July 25, 2019.
Alice was walking from her home in Vicarage Road towards Warrington Road but was run over on her street by a reversing Volvo car being driven by Lorraine Lunt. Paramedics rushed the 86-year-old to Royal Albert Edward Infirmary but she was pronounced dead just after midday.
Ms Lunt was found guilty of causing death by careless driving following a trial at Manchester Magistrates Court.
She was given a suspended 26-week prison sentence and banned from driving for two years.
But the conviction was overturned on appeal last year at Bolton’s Nightingale crown court.
Ms Lunt gave evidence at an inquest into Alice’s death, held last week at Bolton Coroner’s Court, where she said the crash had ‘nothing to do with me.’
However, senior coroner Timothy Brennand described her evidence as ‘unsatisfactory’ and her claims that Mrs Gilchrist had collapsed in the road after a medical episode as ‘wishful thinking.’
Ms Lunt told the court: “I reversed out absolutely normally and there was no bump or sound.
“I turned the car but then it wouldn’t move forward.
“Someone was driving up the road at me mouthing ‘no, no, no,’ she was waving her arms around so I got out of the car. She (Alice) was lying there unconscious but it was absolutely nothing to do with me.
“I don’t know if the heat got to her but it was nothing to do with me.”
When questioned by police, she told officers that her reverse sensors had not beeped to let her know anything was in the way and she thought the reason the car might not be moving was that a box, bin, or rubbish was blocking the car. Evidence later given by police collision investigators, and the extent of Alice’s injuries from the post-mortem, showed the front nearside wheel had gone over Alice and ‘put the full weight of the car’ onto her.
Home Office pathologist Dr Philip Lumb said there was no evidence of a cardiac arrest which may have led to her collapsing in the road.
He gave Mrs Gilchrist’s cause of death as multiple injuries, leading to ‘traumatic asphyxia.’ He told the court that tyre marks were found on her left arm, neck, and chest.
DC Edward Lister, forensic collision reconstruction officer, analysed CCTV from a nearby house.
“It looks like she was pushed to the floor (by the car), there’s no other reason that she would fall to the ground,” he told the court.
Ms Lunt could be seen to reverse, the front nearside wheel of the car is then seen to ‘travel over an object.’
DC Lister then told the court Ms Lunt tried to move forward four times but could not, due to Mrs Gilchrist blocking the wheels, before the wheels went on top of her.
The reverse sensors would not go off if someone was prone on the floor, he added.
DC Lister said the pavement was three metres wide and Mrs Gilchrist was found to be fully in the road after the collision.
I don’t know if the heat got to her but it was nothing to do with me
Lorraine Lunt, whose conviction for causing Alice’s death was overturned
“I can’t understand how she would collapse a distance of four metres but by being pushed there by the vehicle.”
He added: “If someone travels over a substantial object you ought to be aware you are travelling over the object. There was no evidence of anything else in the road.”
Julie Gast, Mrs Gilchrist’s daughter, said: “We want to know what happened on the day as best we can. How she (Ms Lunt) continues to believe she’s not at fault is very difficult for us to understand.
“She’s just speculating that because of her age she had a medical episode. The heat had never bothered her, she was raised in Saudi Arabia. It’s just really tragic.”
Recording a conclusion of road traffic collision, senior coroner Timothy Brennand, said: “The motorist did not see or become aware of the presence of the deceased, continued to reverse, causing the deceased to be propelled away from the car and into a prone position on the floor where the front near side wheel of the car ran over her.”
He added it was ‘unlikely’ she ‘suffered any form of medical episode’ before falling into the road.
He described the evidence given in court by Ms Lunt as ‘unsatisfactory’ and some of it ‘unhelpful.’
Paying tribute to her mother after the hearing, Julie Gast said: “I’m glad we fought on. It really wasn’t right to say she just had a ‘medical episode.’”