Hurt Locker heroine kills hitch-hiker while using phone at wheel
A HERO female soldier knocked down and killed a hitch-hiker after surfing the internet on her mobile phone while driving.
Captain Alison Dray, who defused 60 Taliban bombs on a tour of Afghanistan, sobbed in the dock yesterday as she was jailed for nine months.
The court heard she had been using her iPhone ‘extensively’ in the moments before she mounted the kerb, killing Ashley Taylor.
Dray, who admitted causing death by dangerous driving, is the only female British bomb disposal expert to complete a full tour of Afghanistan and has received a Queen’s Commendation. But the 31-year-old’s career now hangs in the balance.
Mr Taylor’s mother, Jane, said her 32-year-old son had a ‘heart of gold’. She said in a victim impact statement: ‘He is on my mind every single day. It doesn’t get better for me – in fact it’s getting harder, if anything.’
Dray’s barrister, Michael Clare, told Norwich Crown Court the Royal Logistics Corp member had completed a seven-month tour of Afghanistan in which she disposed of at least 60 Taliban improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
It was reminscent of the plot of 2008 film The Hurt Locker about a US bomb squad in Iraq.
A number of references from Army colleagues testifying to her courage were handed to the court. Mr Clare said: ‘This involved brain-freezing, unimaginable bravery, bending over IEDs and allowing soldiers and civilians to go about their business.
‘There is nothing to be gained by depriving this defendant of her liberty and this country of one its finest assets.’
Judge Anthony Bate said he had no choice but to jail her but that the Army should consider letting her carry on in her job when freed.
He told Dray: ‘You are a decorated soldier of previous exemplary character. You have served our country bravely and with distinction. It is plain that your remorse is sincere and profound – you have an intelligent and heartfelt understanding of the misery several seconds of inattention has brought on this family.’
He added that working in such hostile terrain where a soldier’s ‘every move may be their last’ often had a lasting impact after they returned to the UK. Dray, from Rochester in Kent, was driving a hired Mitsubishi 4x4 while undergoing training in Norfolk on January 8 last year.
Prosecutor Christopher Morgan said she had mounted the kerb before hitting Mr Taylor at about 12.25pm.
Although she denied she was using the phone at the moment of impact, Mr Morgan added: ‘It is quite clear that up until about 50 seconds prior to the collision there was extensive use of the mobile phone.
‘This included accessing an internet site with details of a hotel in Switzerland and taking a screenshot on the phone.’
Mr Clare said: ‘In cases like this there are no winners, there’s just tragedy all round. She had been using the mobile phone during the journey but not at the time of the collision. She does feel genuine remorse.’
‘Unimaginable bravery’