‘IT’S A CATASTROPHIC TURN OF EVENTS’
Driver unaware he hit and killed friend
A YOUNG motorist who killed a pedestrian hadn’t seen her lying in the road when he ran over her and drove off.
Stoke-on-trent Crown Court heard the collision, in Pit Green Lane, Wolstanton, had a ‘catastrophic’ impact on both families, who by chance knew each other.
Now Matthew Salt has been handed a 12-month community order after admitting causing the death of 47-year-old Jeanette Bourne through careless driving.
Ms Bourne, below, who was known as Nettie, had been walking home from a night out with friends at Wolstanton Workingmen’s Club when, for some unknown reason, she ended up lying in the residential street.
Twenty-one-year-old Salt had just left work at another local pub and was heading along Pit Green Lane to pick up his girlfriend when the collision happened on March 23 last year.
His car’s telematics showed he was travelling at no more than 19 miles per hour.
Prosecutor Tom Kenning said: “At about 12.05am, a resident heard a bang outside. She looked out and a saw a figure lying in the road. That figure was Jeanette Bourne.”
The woman went to investigate and then alerted the emergency services. Other members of the public also came to Ms Bourne’s aid and gave her CPR. But she was most likely to have died instantly from her injuries.
The court was told Ms Bourne had been drinking that night, although it was unclear if that had caused her to collapse in the road.
“It cannot be definitively ascertained – whether it was falling over, stumbling, tripping or
fainting,” said Mr Kenning. Salt, of Longshaw Avenue, Bradwell, struck her and then continued driving, unaware he had hit a pedestrian. It was only later that the true horror emerged.
He had been the second driver to encounter her in the road. A short while earlier, a taxi driver had also come across what he initially thought were ‘rubbish bags’.
As he got closer, he realised the figure was a person and drove round her, assuming she was just drunk.
In court, a statement was read out from a close relative of Ms Bourne.
The woman said: “Words cannot do justice to the pain not only I, but the rest of our family, have felt since that day.
“Nettie was a huge part of our lives. She was a very intelligent, hard-working and caring girl. It has left us with an emptiness that is indescribable. I struggle every single day. I cry every single day.”
The court heard that Salt, who has no previous convictions, had known Ms Bourne well and had previously played pool and had the odd drink with her.
Carl Hargan, mitigating, said: “Mr Salt did not realise what he had done. This has had quite an impact on him emotionally. He’s a decent young man.”
It was only after CCTV was analysed that police were able to piece together what had happened and arrest Salt.
Sentencing him, Judge David Fletcher said: “You have to live for the rest of your life knowing that something you did, an action you took, caused the death of somebody else. It has been a catastrophic turn of events.”
As part of his community order, Salt must complete 120 hours of unpaid work. He has also been disqualified from driving for 12 months and must pay £535 costs.