A pensioner who became the oldest woman in Britain to be convicted of dangerous driving has today avoided being sent to jail.
June Mills, 96, of Ainsdale, Merseyside, admitted causing the death of Brenda Joyce, 76, on Elbow Lane in Formby on August 2 last year.
Mills killed the pensioner when she lost control of her Vauxhall Corsa and mounted a pavement.
Ms Joyce suffered a serious head injury and died at the scene, while another pedestrian, 80-year-old Jennifer Ensor, suffered slight injuries.
But she was today spared jail for the horror crash and instead handed an 18-month suspended prison term for causing death by dangerous driving, with a judge telling her: ‘You have lost your good character.’
June Mills, 96, arriving at Liverpool Crown Court in August where she pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving
Pictured are emergency services at the scene in Formby after the Vauxhall Corsa mounted the pavement and collided with two pedestrians
Mills was also handed a five year driving ban and fined £1,500.
Sentencing her at Liverpool Crown Court today, Judge Simon Medland KC said: ‘On any view and from every angle this case is an utter tragedy.
‘Mrs Joyce died, Mrs Ensor was injured, you have lost your good character and are in the dock of Liverpool Crown Court.’
Robert Dudley, prosecuting, told the court Mrs Joyce and Mrs Ensor had been walking along the pavement after leaving the bridge club, which they attended with Mills, when the collision happened.
Mills, who was in a wheelchair and wore a green fleece and tartan blanket over her knees for the hearing, told police in a prepared statement her accelerator pedal felt as if it had ‘dropped to the floor’ as she manoeuvred round a parked car and she had ‘shot forward’.
She said: ‘It all happened very quickly and there were people in front of me but I could not avoid hitting them because the car was going so fast I had no control over it.’
The court heard Mrs Joyce’s husband did not support the prosecution.
Mills (pictured leaving court in August) is thought to be the oldest woman in Britain to admit to causing death by dangerous driving
Mills (pictured) was spared jail with a judge telling her: ‘You have lost your good character’
In a statement which was read to the court, Mrs Ensor said she suffered minor physical injuries, including tendon damage which prevented her from playing a full round of golf, and had a ‘sense of guilt’ at having survived.
Tom Gent, defending, said: ‘This is plainly a dreadfully sad case. Mrs Mills, the defendant, is extremely sorry for what happened. The consequences will haunt her forever. She feels great shame and guilt.’
He said the former careers advisor, who surrendered her driving licence following the crash, had previously been involved in voluntary work with victims of crime and young offenders.
He added: ‘Recently she has housed, and continues to house, Ukrainian refugees.’
He said she now accepted she must have mistakenly applied too much acceleration which caused her car to lurch forward and mount the kerb.
Judge Medland said, with credit for a guilty plea made at an earlier hearing, the starting point for her sentence would be 18 months in prison.
He said: ‘Bearing in mind the imposition guidelines, the pre-sentence reports, the abundance of references and, if I might add, plain common sense, it would not profit anybody to make that an immediate sentence, nor would that be a just outcome.’
He suspended the sentence for 18 months.
Mills, of Broadway Close, Ainsdale, Merseyside, was ordered to pay a £1,500 fine and £500 prosecution costs and was disqualified from driving for five years.
