A woman driver from Warrington who knocked down and killed a mother of three cyclist has walked free from court after medical reports suggested she may have fainted at the wheel.
Tracy Johnson, 35, escaped prosecution after her Range Rover vehicle mowed down mother of three Sharon Corless, 43, as she was out riding her bike with her husband.
The vehicle also hit Mrs Corless’s husband Peter at up to 51mph before smashing into another car and hitting a lamp-post on a roundabout.
After the crash Mrs Corless lay dying in the road as Johnson emerged from her vehicle in a ‘shocked and dazed condition’ asking ‘what’s happened?’
Inquiries revealed Johnson had been on her mobile phone ‘minutes’ before the crash but not directly before the impact.
She had been charged with causing by death by dangerous driving – and faced up to 14 years in jail if she had been convicted. But at Chester Crown Court today the charge was dropped after medical experts said she had possibly fainted and was not in conscious control of her actions.
The court was told the tragedy occurred in September 2008 while Mrs Corless, who worked as a support worker in the maternity unit at Warrington Hospital cycled up to a roundabout in the town just behind her husband.
The court heard that when interviewed Johnson told police she had “no recollection” of the accident, but remembered “coming round” in the vehicle after it.
Mr Corless, who works at steel manufacturers, suffered serious leg, pelvic, back and head injuries in the collision and has still not been able to return to work.
But the court heard a doctor acting on behalf of Johnson’s defence team said in his report that in his opinion ‘it is likely that Tracey Johnson suffered an abrupt episode of reflux-cyncope’ which is more commonly known as fainting.
The prosecutions expert conducted further tests on Johnson and although he could not replicate the circumstances in which she fainted, he could not rule it out.
A woman driver from Warrington who knocked down and killed a mother of
three cyclist has walked free from court after medical
reports suggested she may have fainted at the wheel.
Death crash woman walks free
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
8 Comments
Another murderer let off
How dumb is this court. She killed a woman and badly hurt her husband. No accountability………………………….
Guess it’s one of those tricky ones that can’t be proven either way but sadly it may have opened the floodgates to many more ‘sorry I think I may have fainted’ defences 🙁 Anyway who are we to pass judgement or make comment either way 🙁
“possibly fainted ” isn’t a defence it is a convenient excuse. The CPS official on the case should be sacked for giving in so easily.
I hope the woman has received a lifetime driving ban lest the possible faint kills someone else.
Sounds to me like a stupid person who’s mind was elsewhere and driving a car that she couldn’t control. At the very least she should be banned from driving for life otherwise she could just go out and do the same again.
As I understand it she will neither be banned nor have her licence withdrawn on medical grounds. That being the case, maybe she will do the right thing and voluntarily hand back her licence, then again…………pigs might fly etc etc. Of course insurance companies could refuse to insure her, now there is a thought.
if as was stated she fainted, then surely her foot would have relaxed on the accelerator. She was doing around 51 mph when she hit them so what was she doing before that? If she isn’t being charged for manslaughter then why has she got away with the lesser offence of speeding too ? Most people would have a hefty fine simply for that.
What miffes me off about this is the fact that the mobile phone call can be accurately traced right down to the second but the exact time of the accident can’t. Because of this there’s no real way of knowing whether or not the woman was on the phone at the time or not. The court only had her word for the fact that the call had ended which is a bit odd given that she couldn’t remember anything until after the accident