Driver, 95, who killed dog walker while eyeing up empty disabled space is spared jail

A 95-year-old woman who ran over a dogwalker because she was too busy eyeing up a free disabled space on a petrol station forecourt has been spared jail.

Joan Barwick was ‘simply not looking at what was in front of her’ when she drove into grandmother Linda Wareham, 77, in Oldswinford in the West Midlands on April 17 last year.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Barwick, of Wollescote, Dudley, was turning right into a petrol station forecourt in Hagley Road while Mrs Wareham was crossing but failed to stop to let her cross.

Barwick, wearing a purple cardigan and using a walking stick to enter the courtroom for her sentencing hearing on Friday, was given a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

She had previously pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.

The elderly defendant was allowed to sit in the well of the court instead of in the dock so she could hear proceedings properly.

The court heard Barwick, who was driving a red Vauxhall Corsa, would have had seven seconds to see Mrs Wareham before the collision occurred, but was focused on a disabled parking space that she had spotted was free.

Mrs Wareham suffered catastrophic head injuries, and her life support was turned off at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham the next day.

The victim’s tearful husband and daughter left the courtroom as CCTV footage of the moment she was hit by Barwick’s car was played.

Prosecution counsel Tim Harrington said Barwick was ‘not paying proper attention to what was in front of her’.

He said: ‘She was driving at an appropriate speed and had slowed down to 10mph but that should have meant she would see any pedestrian crossing her path, so Mrs Barwick was simply not looking at what was in front of her.

‘Instead, she was looking towards an available parking space on (the) forecourt.