Wheelchair-bound 96-year-old becomes oldest woman in Britain to admit causing death by dangerous driving
27 August 2024, 17:17
A wheelchair-bound 96-year-old has become the oldest woman in Britain to admit causing death by dangerous driving after her car mounted a pavement and hit two pedestrians.
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June Mills, of Ainsdale, Merseyside, sat in her wheelchair in the public gallery of the courtroom, with her husband behind her, to enter the plea at the Liverpool Crown Court hearing on Tuesday.
She admitted causing the death of Brenda Joyce, 76, on Elbow Lane in Formby on August 2 last year.
Tom Gent, defending, said Mills, of previous good character, was only able to walk a few paces and would be unlikely to be fit to carry out unpaid work.
He said her mobility had worsened since the collision, when he said she mounted the kerb because she applied too much accelerator while driving her Vauxhall Corsa.
Mr Gent said: ""The error here was, for some reason that she cannot explain, she mounted the kerb because she applied too much accelerator.
"The accelerator pedal fell down beneath her foot.
"She panicked and failed to react to that. She accepts by her plea that that was driving that was far below the standard."
Mills will be sentenced on September 30.
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Mills was released on unconditional bail until the sentencing by the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC and handed an interim driving disqualification.
Merseyside Police were called to the scene in Formby shortly before 4.30pm on August 2, 2023, after a crash involving Mills' Vauxhall Corsa, a Jaguar and a Ford.
Ms Joyce, 76, was treated at the scene for a head injury but was later pronounced dead.
A second pedestrian, 80, was taken to hospital with slight injuries.
