Novice driver pensioner spared jail

A pensioner who learnt to drive to take his terminally ill wife to hospital was spared jail after he hit and killed a pedestrian weeks later. The victim’s son, a policeman who attended the accident, told a court he did not want to see the driver imprisoned.

Harold Milner, 79, from Hull, had been on the roads for less than three weeks when he accidentally pressed the accelerator instead of the brake.

The collision killed Irene Moore, 70, in Hull on October 23 last year as she crossed the road. She suffered head injuries and died in hospital three days later. Up until this date his wife had done all the driving for them both, but she felt she was unable to continue after being diagnosed with bone cancer, Hull Crown Court heard.

Pc Bryan Moore, who is Mrs Moore’s son, discovered the victim was his mother after being called to the scene over the police radio.

Describing how his mother’s face was covered by a breathing bag as she was being treated by paramedics, he told the court: “I have to live with my last memories of my mother not being pleasant and seeing her in such a distressing state.” In his victim statement, Pc Moore also told the judge he had “no ill feeling” towards Milner and did not want him to be jailed. Judge Mark Bury, sentencing, handed Milner a four-month jail term, suspended for 12 months.