What were you doing walking in the road?

How drunk moped driver yelled at dying gran, 78

A DRUNK moped rider mowed down a 78-yearold grandmother and yelled at her: ‘What were you doing walking in the middle of the road?’

Simon Coker, 32, who had taken cocaine the previous evening, rode off as people rushed to tend to Helen Doherty. She died in hospital the following day.

Coker was jailed for eight years by a judge at Teesside Crown Court who said he had shown cowardice after causing the death of Mrs Doherty, a widow described as a ‘kind-hearted community stalwart’.

The church volunteer had been on her way to buy freshlybaked pies for a friend recovering from cancer surgery when she was hit. Coker, a convicted drug-dealer, was speeding on a Lexmoto 125cc moped and swerving in and out of speed bumps when he smashed into Kind-hearted: Helen Doherty Mrs Doherty near her home in Colburn, near Richmond, North Yorkshire, in August last year.

When questioned at his home in Richmond, Coker was more than three times over the legal alcohol limit for driving. He told police: ‘I feel concerned for her, but I don’t feel responsible.’

Coker was said to have been riding at 30mph in a 20mph limit. He knew the road well, telling police: ‘I just came around the corner and she was there. She looked OK when I saw her. A lot of people were giving me s***, so I came back here.’

His moped was tested after the crash and failed on eight items, including brakes, steering and tyres. Prosecutor Paul Newcombe said Mrs Doherty, a retired school dinner lady, was crossing the road with bags of shopping when Coker smashed into her at 10.40am.

‘She was semi-conscious and was bleeding from a head wound,’ Mr Newcombe said. ‘The defendant did nothing at all to assist, he just rode off.

‘ Further compounding his careless attitude, he has previously lied when applying for insurance, failing to disclose significant previous convictions including multiple counts of supplying heroin, burglary and unlawful wounding.’

Coker admitted causing death by careless driving while over the prescribed limit for alcohol, and making a false statement.

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton told him: ‘You drove deliberately avoiding speed bumps, and swerved into the middle of the road and straight into the path of this lady. The fact you didn’t remain at the scene is a deeply aggravating feature. Not only that, but you had the temerity and cowardice to start suggesting she was at fault.’

Mrs Doherty’s daughter Jacqueline Ross said afterwards: ‘His total disregard for our mum and for the law is unforgivable.’

‘‘My mum was a beautiful person. I can’t describe the unbearable, hollow emptiness I feel every single day. I can see the final tear roll from her eye as she died. She wasn’t just my mum, she was my best friend and she was brutally and selfishly taken from us.

‘Mum had done nothing wrong that day. She was just going about her day as usual, helping people. Mum always told us to see the good in everyone, but in the case of Simon Coker this is impossible for us to do.’

‘He didn’t help, he just rode off’