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news
Celia Ward falls into path of car after being confronted by Auriol Grey (via Cambridgeshire Constabulary and BBC News)Three years in jail for pedestrian convicted of manslaughter after cyclist’s death
* On 8 May 2024 Auriol Grey's manslaughter conviction was overturned at appeal. *
A pedestrian who aggressively confronted an elderly cyclist who was riding on the pavement, causing her to be killed after she fell into the path of a vehicle, has been jailed for three years for manslaughter.
Auriol Grey, aged 49, was convicted of the offence by a jury at Peterborough Crown Court last month, and returned there today for sentencing, where Judge Sean Enright told her she was “territorial about the pavement" and “resented” the presence of the cyclist reports BBC News.
Her trial in February heard that Grey had acted in a “hostile and aggressive way” towards 77-year-old Celia Ward, including shouting and gesturing at her, causing her to fall from her bike and into the carriageway on 20 October 2020 on a pavement alongside a ring road in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
Grey left the scene before the arrival of the emergency services and went to a supermarket to do her shopping. She was arrested the next day, and claimed that Mrs Ward had been cycling “at high speed” and that she was “anxious I was going to get hit by it,” so “flinched out” with her left arm to protect herself.”
But passing sentence, the judge told her she had given a “dishonest account in interview” and that there had been “not a word about remorse until today.”
While the trial last month heard that Cambridgeshire Constabulary were unable to “categorically” ascertain whether Mrs Ward had been cycling on a shared use path, the judge said today in his sentencing remarks that it was a shared facility.
CCTV footage shared by Cambridgeshire Constabulary showed Grey, who has cerebral palsy and is partially sighted, shouting at Mrs Ward, described by her widower as an “experienced and competent cyclist,” to “get off the f*ck*ng pavement.”
Speaking in mitigation at today’s sentencing hearing, Miranda Moore KC said that Grey plans to appeal against the sentence and claimed that “she does not pose a risk or danger to the public.”
But the judge told Grey: “These actions are not explained by disability.”
Investigating officer Detective Sergeant Mark Dollard said: “This is a difficult and tragic case. Everyone will have their own views of cyclists on pavements and cycleways, but what is clear is Grey’s response to the presence of Celia on a pedal cycle was totally disproportionate and ultimately found to be unlawful, resulting in Celia’s untimely and needless death.
“I hope it is a stark reminder to all road users to take care and be considerate of each other.
“I want to take the time to acknowledge Celia’s family and thank them for their patience and dignity throughout the entirety of the investigation and trial,” he added.
In a victim impact statement, Mrs Ward’s husband David said: “After 53 years of happy marriage, Celia was taken from me in a most horrific way, leaving me with only my memories. She was kind, calm, careful, cheerful and competent in all that she did.
“Her death has caused me great suffering. We relied on each other, shared the same sense of humour and outlook on life, and enjoyed each other’s company. I miss her terribly.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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52 comments
I rather doubt that he could hear me, given that he was driving away at nearly twice the speed limit having come within inches of killing me, so the eventuality is unlikely. You are Nigel, aren't you?
He didn't "almost kill you" though did he? A judge accepted that, in fact, you made no checks behind you before veering wildly into the motorist's right of way.
Anyway, I'm not letting you hijack this tragic case to talk about yourself, so I'm not going to write anything else on the matter.
*Morgan Freeman voice* it was not in fact, the motorist's right of way.
You add nothing to the conversations on this site so maybe this is indeed for the best.
You are the hijacker! Don't you see that?
Hilarious, isn't it, he goes to my YouTube channel and shares a (totally irrelevant to this case) video from it and then says I'm not letting this thread become all about you. His trolling skills clearly have not improved since his previous iterations.
Thanks for outing yourself as Nigel.
Insufficient evidence.. doesn't mean it wasn't a crime, just that they got away with it. I'm struggling to see what your point is. Thank you for shutting up.
The place where the deceased was cycling was a highway. Cyclists are allowed on the highway, with the exception of sections reserved for walking. On the basis that neither the prosecution not the defence suggested that the cyclist was not allowed to cycle where the cyclist was cycling, it would be sensible to surmise that the cyclist was indeed allowed to cycle there.
If you know different then you know something the police, prosecution, defence, jury and judge do not. Unlikely, I think.
I think this case is terribly sad and the pedestrian acted awfully, but I also can't see any evidence of it being a shared path. The other side of the road is definitely a shared path. I worry this will end up being retried, and that the police have wasted the courts time by not presenting evidence on the path, which the judge relied on in sentencing.
section of road here.
edit: wrote "cited" when I meant "acted"
There is a shared use sign for this pavement further up the road. If you were cycling along this road, you would conclude this was a shared use path:
https://goo.gl/maps/m7LnXYV5BC986r5o8
It's irrelevant in any case whether it's shared use or footway. Police policy is to use their discretion to not prosecute cyclists who ride carefully on the pavement.
There is no physical difference between the shared use pavement on both sides of this road. In fact, the side that has more frequent shared use signs looks to be narrower at this point, the pavement where the crime took place seems a better place to cycle, as there are no overhanging bushes or railings encroaching the path.
Good spot, I missed that one. Either side of the road, those are some terrible shared paths.
Indeed. It's a shame the signage isn't better, but there is signage. The content of my previous comment was accurate.
Agree. But there are a lot of shared paths like this and plenty that are even worse. You can't go shoving people in front of traffic just because you don't like what they're doing.
This case has some similarities with the infamous (and still at large) "Putney Pusher". Differences are the bus driver managed to swerve and the victim survived, plus the pusher was probably not aware of the bus approaching as it was behind them. There was clearer CCTV of the push in this case too.
I wonder what the putney pusher would have been charged with had the victim died and they'd been apprehended.
Absolutely agree. I just also think this death is as attributal to a combination of poor infrastructure and Daily Mail hate campagining, as it is to the actions of one person.
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Good point. So who did present the 'evidence', if not the police?
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Blimey, that's unexpected. Something very odd about this case, given the usual response of the courts to drivers who kill.
Without getting involved with the pointless bunfight downthread I agree.
I'd rather see the council gone after for inadequate walking and cycling provision - fix the root cause. If cyclists and pedestrians are given scraps these kind of conflicts over them are inevitable.
Whilst this cycling infrastructure is poor, I think it represents the most common type found in the UK.
To blame the council for creating a conflict would be a dangerous distraction in my view. It would fuel resentment for cyclists using this type of facility across the country.
The perpetrator was fortunate the critical moment was out of view of the camera. Had a definite push into the traffic been seen, then I think the charge would have been murder.
A bit like the Alliston case the real issue here is that there isn't a lesser offence available. Drivers their own set of laws to deal with when then KSI someone. Alliston couldn't be prosecuted under those, so they had to use wanton and furious. And a pedestrian can only be dealt with I assume under offences against the person charges - e.g. various types of assault and manslaughter/murder.
It does set an interesting precedent, in the same way Alliston's case did. Imagine a scenario where a pedestrian caused a driver to be killed, or caused that driver to kill a third party. That's not beyond the realms of possibility - e.g. negligently entering the carriageway, driver swerves and hits tree or hits another road user. Just as in this case the pedestrian caused the action, so could they be charged with manslaughter of the driver/third party? It's notable that the driver who killed the victim was quite rightly not charged - as was also the situation in the David Irving case where he was knocked off his bike by a van driver but actually killed by a following car driver.
The difference in this case, is it's impossible for the perpetrator to claim "the sun was in their eyes", "just didn't see them" etc.
If a driver had recorded themselves with a dashcam shouting "get off the road" at a cyclist with footage of them appearing to turn the steering wheel towards them at the point of impact, then I think the sentence would be similar, if not longer.
If there had been no CCTV here, I don't think they would have been charged with anything.
It's the other cases that are odd.
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