Folkestone Trawlers managing director admits causing death of pensioner by careless driving
A company boss who struck and killed a pensioner with his van as he drove home to have lunch has admitted causing her death by careless driving. Jesse Milton, the managing director of Folkestone Trawlers, knocked down Genevieve Sutton as she crossed the road near the fishmongers' base in the town's harbour.
Magistrates have been told a "momentary lapse in concentration" saw the 60-year-old businessman collide with Mrs Sutton as he pulled out of a junction. She was rushed to hospital following the accident in July last year, but doctors were unable to treat a catastrophic bleed to her brain and she died in the early hours of the following day.
Milton, of Church Hougham, Dover, appeared at the Folkestone court on Tuesday and admitted causing death by careless driving. Magistrates heard how he had just left work in his Transit van to pop home for lunch when he reached the Beach Street junction with Harbour Street at about 12.05pm on July 4. He waited for a car to pass before pulling out onto Harbour Street and turning right, colliding with Mrs Sutton as she crossed the road closely behind two other pedestrians.
Mrs Sutton, who was in her 70s, was carried momentarily on the bonnet before being thrown to the ground, striking her head with considerable force.
Milton jumped out of the vehicle to help her, along with others who had witnessed and heard the incident.
Picture: Clara Bella
When police arrived at the scene, Milton told officers he had looked both ways before pulling out, adding: "She stepped out right in front of me." Mrs Sutton was rushed to the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, where tests showed she had suffered a massive brain haemmhorage. Specialist neurosurgeons from King's College Hospital in London reviewed the scans and deemed the bleed too "extensive" to be operated on, so Mrs Sutton was given palliative care until her death in the early hours of July 5.
Neil Sweeney, prosecuting, said it was the Crown's case that Milton had carried out an "unsafe manoeuvre". Police investigators examined the scene of the crash and found that Milton's view of Mrs Sutton and the other pedestrians would likely have been obscured by the passing car for only one or two seconds. He said Milton would have seen Mrs Sutton just before the collision, as he had applied his brakes, but concluded that he had made insufficient observations before pulling out of the junction.
Tests showed he was not over the limit for alcohol or drugs at the time of the crash, and had not been using either of the two mobile phones in his van.
Jonathan Lally, defending, told magistrates Milton was full of "extreme remorse" and offered his condolences to Mrs Sutton's family, who were in court for the hearing.
The lawyer rejected the assertion that Milton had been carrying out an unsafe manoeuvre, such as overtaking, reversing out of a junction or turning a vehicle around. "He simply did a right turn - it was a momentary lapse in concentration," he added. Mr Lally said other vehicles on the road had prevented Milton from seeing the pedestrians, and that he had waited for a car to go across the junction before he pulled out.
"He hadn't seen the pedestrians, and he will have to live with that until his dying day," he said.
"He was clearly focusing on the traffic from left to right, and he'd not appreciated a pedestrian would cross right in front of him. He's got extreme remorse." Magistrates adjourned sentencing until September 12 so probation reports can be carried out on Milton, who was bailed and told an immediate prison sentence would be considered.
The chairman of the bench added: "These are a difficult set of circumstances, and it's a real tragedy for all concerned."