Quote:
A "territorial" pedestrian whose actions killed a 77-year-old cyclist when she was angered by her being on the pavement has been jailed.
Auriol Grey, 49, shouted an expletive and gestured in an "aggressive way" towards Celia Ward, who fell into the path of a car in Huntingdon in 2020.
Peterborough Crown Court heard Grey "resented" the presence of the cyclist.
Grey, of Bradbury Place, Huntingdon, was jailed for three years after being convicted of manslaughter.
A trial heard the women passed each other in opposite directions on the pavement of the Cambridgeshire town's ring road, during the afternoon of 20 October.
The incident was captured on CCTV which included sound, and Grey could be heard shouting at Mrs Ward to "get off the [expletive] pavement".
Prosecutors said the defendant was "angered by the presence of a cyclist on a footpath" and gestured towards Mrs Ward, who fell into the path of a car.
Jurors heard the vehicle had "no chance to stop or take avoiding action" and Mrs Ward was pronounced dead at the scene.
Grey left prior to emergency services arriving and went to Sainsbury's where she bought groceries.
'Needless and senseless'
The trial was told that police could not "categorically" state whether the pavement was a shared cycleway.
Cambridgeshire County Council subsequently reiterated that and said it would review the location, but in his sentencing remarks Judge Sean Enright said it was a shared cycleway.
Sentencing Grey, Judge Enright said she was "territorial about the pavement" and "resented" the cyclist being there.
The trial heard Grey had cerebral palsy and was partially sighted, but the judge said: "These actions are not explained by disability."
He said that she had given a "dishonest account in interview" and there was "not a word about remorse until today".
Judge Enright added that "consideration of other road users is the lesson of this tragic case".
Full story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...shire-64824436
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Tragic for the cyclist and the woman certainly sounds very unpleasant but is she really responsible for manslaughter? It's bizarre that the police can't state for sure whether it was a shared cycleway but it looks pretty narrow from the video. I don't think someone should be sentenced as responsible for another person's death for swearing at them and gesturing