Hairdresser ‘chatting on mobile at wheel killed couple in their 80s as they strolled arm in arm’
A HAIRDRESSER chatting on her mobile phone while driving crashed into a devoted elderly couple who were on an early evening stroll, a court heard.
Retired RAF airman Denis Drew and his wife Joyce, both 86, had been walking arm in arm when they were hit by Taylor McDonnell.
Mr Drew was dragged under the Toyota Aygo and dragged along the road for more than 50 feet while Mrs Drew was flung on to the bonnet.
The couple, who had been married for 54 years, died of their injuries in hospital.
McDonnell, 21, had been on her phone for 18 of the 20 minutes of her car trip, making ‘four or five’ calls, the court was told.
She was driving in her slippers to see her boyfriend when she hit the Drews, who were crossing a 30mph road outside a well-lit pub in the village of Ponthir in South Wales.
Lucy Crowther, prosecuting, said: ‘She wasn’t paying proper attention to her driving – which ultimately caused the deaths of two elderly people – because a telephone call was far more important.’ McDonnell admitted speaking on her phone but said she had been using the loudspeaker function at the time of the crash, Miss Crowther added. McDonnell thought she had hit a woman and didn’t realise Mr Drew was stuck under her car. The pub’s customers recall her running in, screaming for help while clutching her iPhone.
Family and friends of the Drews wept as they listened to the heroic efforts of other motorists to comfort the pair after the crash in November 2013.
One driver, who found Mrs Drew lying in the verge, covered her with a jacket, gave her basic first aid and ‘talked to her and stroked her hair and held her hand’ until paramedics arrived. Mr Drew was able to speak to the police officers and ambulance crew as they fought to free him. ‘He spent all the time asking about his wife,’ said Miss Crowther.
McDonnell, who lives in Caerwent, denies two counts causing death by dangerous driving. The trial at Newport Crown Court continues.