85 year-old George Canterbury killed by woman 'momentarily blinded' (11/2/09)

A woman accused of causing the death by dangerous driving of an elderly cyclist through not clearing her windscreen properly has been found not guilty

Lisa Jackson, 39, was tried on two counts, one of death by dangerous driving and one of death by careless driving.

A jury at Chichester Crown Court delivered not guilty verdicts on both counts after being dismissed to make their deliberations this morning (Thursday).

They took less than an hour to make their decision.

Mrs Jackson was turning right from Fishbourne Road East into Clay Lane on February 11 last year when she hit 85-year-old George Canterbury who was cycling east along Fishbourne Road East.

Mr Canterbury died after hitting his head on the ground.

Some witnesses to the accident said that Mrs Jackson had not cleaned her windscreen properly from the overnight frost but the mother-of-three said that she had been blinded by sunlight as she turned the corner and had not seen him.

Jackson said: “As I made my turn I thought I was free to go. I didn’t see anything that would make me think I can’t turn.

As I turned there was a big strong flash of sunlight which momentarily dazzled me as I turned into Clay Lane.

“I felt I had completed my turn. I was pointing into Clay Lane, the car was almost completely across the white line when I struck him.

“I saw him as I turned. I was suddenly aware of him on the left just before hitting him. I slammed on my brakes, it was too late.”

Mrs Jackson had been on her way to drop her children at school before heading off to Bognor Regis for a meeting when the accident took place at around 8.30am.

Giving evidence during the trial, Mrs Jackson told the court that despite some people’s comments about the state of her windscreen, she had cleared it sufficiently and did not believe her visibility was impaired.

She told the court that while getting the children ready and strapping them into the car, she ran the car engine and put the heaters on inside.

She then scraped a large rectangular area of the windscreen, even having to go round to the other side because she could not reach across.

She admitted she did not scrape right to the edges.

She told the jury: “I felt I had cleared the windscreen sufficiently with the scraper and particularly as the heaters had been on at least five minutes I didn’t feel there was any reason to wait any longer.

“Like most people I felt I cleared it to a degree where I felt I was a safe road user.”

Mrs Jackson, who has been driving for around 20 years without incident, said she had gone over the accident in her mind many times over the past year and said that she had always believed it was a pure accident.

There was a gasp of relief when the verdict was read out.

Judge Claudia Ackner thanked the jury for its time.

“This has not been an easy case and I thank you very much.”