A grieving family have expressed their relief after a coroner ruled out a loving mum-of-five suffered a medical episode before she was run over by her neighbour. Alice Gilchrist died after being hit by a car which was reversing from a driveway in Ashton-in-Makerfield on July 25, 2019.
Alice was walking from her home in Vicarage Road towards Warrington Road but was run over on her street by a reversing Volvo car being driven by Lorraine Lunt. Paramedics rushed the 86-year-old to Royal Albert Edward Infirmary but she was sadly pronounced dead just after midday.
Ms Lunt was found guilty of death by careless driving following a trial at Manchester Magistrates Court and handed a suspended 26-week prison sentence and banned from driving for two years. But the conviction was overturned on appeal last year at Bolton's Nightingale crown court.
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Ms Lunt gave evidence at an inquest into Alice's death, held this week at Bolton Coroner's Court, where she said the crash had ‘nothing to do with me’. However, senior coroner Timothy Brennand described her evidence as 'unsatisfactory' and her claims that Mrs Gilchrist had collapsed in the road after a medical episode as 'wishful thinking'.
Ms Lunt told the court: “I reversed out absolutely normally and there was no bump or sound. I turned the car but then it wouldn’t move forward which has not happened before.
“Someone was driving up the road at me mouthing ‘no, no, no’, she was waving her arms around so I got out of the car. She (Alice) was lying there unconscious but it was absolutely nothing to do with me.
"I don’t know if the heat got to her but it was nothing to do with me…the reason she was lying in the road was nothing to do with me.”
When questioned by police, she told officers that her reverse sensors had not ‘beeped’ to let her know anything was in the way and she thought the reason the car might not be moving was that a box, bin, or rubbish was blocking the car. Ms Lunt also claimed that the “wheels of my car did not go over her, she was under the bonnet”.
However, evidence later given by police collision investigators, and the extent of Alice’s injuries from the post-mortem, showed the front nearside (passenger) wheel had gone over Alice and 'put the full weight of the car' onto the pensioner.
'Alice was pushed to the floor by the car'
It was also raised whether a ‘medical episode’ or the particularly hot day could have led Mrs Gilchrist to collapse so she could not be seen by Ms Lunt. But Home Office pathologist Dr Philip Lumb said there was no evidence of a cardiac arrest which may have led to her collapsing in the road. He gave Mrs Gilchrist's cause of death as multiple injuries, leading to ‘traumatic asphyxia’. He told the court that tyre marks were found on her left arms, neck, and chest.
Edward Lister, forensic collision reconstruction officer with GMP, analysed CCTV from a neighbouring house. “It looks like she was pushed to the floor (by the car), there’s no other reason that she would fall to the ground,” he told the court.
Ms Lunt could be seen to reverse on the footage, the front nearside wheel of the car is then seen to ‘travel over an object’. “Mrs Gilchrist was the only object in the road. So it must have been her,” DC Lister added.
DC Lister then told the court Ms Lunt tried to move forward four times but could not, due to Mrs Gilchrist blocking the wheels, before the wheels went on top of her and then falling backwards, putting the full weight of the car on top of Mrs Gilchrist. The reverse sensors did not go off if someone was prone on the floor, he added.
DC Lister said the pavement was three metres wide and Mrs Gilchrist was found to be fully in the road after the collision. “I can’t understand how she would collapse a distance of four metres but by being pushed there by the vehicle, for me it is the most logical reason.”
He added: “The raising and falling of the vehicle is significant because if someone travels over a substantial object you ought to be aware you are travelling over the object. There was no evidence of anything else in the road."
Julie Gast, Mrs Gilchrist’s daughter, present in court said: “We want to know what happened on the day as best we can. How she (Ms Lunt) continues to believe she’s not at fault is very difficult for us to understand.
“She’s just speculating that because of her age she had a medical episode. The heat had never bothered her too, she was raised in Saudi Arabia. It’s just really tragic.”
'We don't feel she has shown any remorse'
Recording a short form conclusion of road traffic collision, senior coroner Timothy Brennand, said: “The motorist did not see or become aware of the presence of the deceased, continued to reverse, causing the deceased to be propelled away from the car and into a prone position on the floor where the front near side wheel of the car ran over her."
He said the injuries she suffered were 'consistent with crushing injuries with the wheel and underside of the vehicle'. He added it was 'unlikely' she 'suffered any form of medical episode' before falling into the road.
He described the evidence given in court by Ms Lunt as ‘unsatisfactory’ and some of it ‘unhelpful’. Her view that a medical episode may have been to blame was ‘wishful thinking’, he said.
“I’m prepared to accept, while I have rejected some of her evidence I have accepted other parts. It was unintended and inadvertent,” he concluded.
Paying tribute to her mother after the hearing, Julie said: “I’m glad we fought on. It really wasn’t right to say she just had a ‘medical episode’.
“My brother still lives on Vicarage Road where the incident happened. Its really hard for him as he was caring for mum in that house. He can’t go down it at all. We don’t feel Ms Lunt has shown any remorse for what’s happened."
Mr Gast, Julie's husband, said: “She talked to everyone and everyone knew her. Everyone in all the places we go to in Ashton-in-Makerfield always bring her up and say how much they remember and miss her. She loved all her family and we all miss her."
Mrs Gast added: “She was such a big part of the community having lived in that house since the 60s, she was such a big loss.”
