Arnold driver jailed for causing death of mobility scooter rider
The 89-year-old was thrown out of her mobility scooter
A speeding driver has been jailed for four years after causing the "tragic and senseless" death of an 89-year-old woman, who was thrown out of her mobility scooter in a city centre crash while getting vegetables to make a family dinner.
Rayner Middleton, 31, pleaded guilty to causing the death of great-grandmother Doreen Raynor by careless driving in Huntingdon Street, Nottingham, on March 4 2023, while she had an excess of a cocaine metabolite in her body.
Middleton, of Nelson Road, Arnold, Nottinghamshire, appeared in the dock at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday to be sentenced, wearing a black sleeveless top and glasses. She dabbed her eyes with a tissue.
Prosecution barrister Nicholas Bleaney told the court, filled with members of both the defendant's and victim's families: "Mrs Raynor was a month shy of her 90th birthday in March of 2023.
"She had some mobility issues due to an old injury. She used an electric mobility scooter on most days, this being a device to ensure she retains as much of her independence as possible."
He told the court that Mrs Raynor left her home at 9.45am on the day of her death to buy vegetables to make a Sunday dinner for her family. She died later that day at Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.
The court heard Middleton consumed drink and drugs the night before she went to pick up her son, when she drove her Audi A1 at nearly 50mph in a 30mph zone, and she had more than double the legal limit of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, in her system at the time of the crash.
She tested below the legal limit for alcohol when she was breathalysed, but had some alcohol in her system.
The court heard that the traffic lights turned amber as the defendant was driving through the crossing, while the pedestrian light for Mrs Raynor was red when she entered the road on her scooter.
The prosecutor continued: "There was a collision which caused Mrs Raynor to be thrown out of her mobility scooter and suffer very serious injuries."
Mrs Raynor's daughter, Melanie Frearson read a statement to the court that said: "She was known to everyone as 'Mar'. She had 13 children - one of them was an abandoned baby who was left in her care.
"This shows the type of person she was - completely mother to all. I feel so angry that I have been cheated of having Mar to hold me when I'm not well. She got me through so much.
"Mar should have died peacefully of old age, not in the way she died."
Mrs Raynor's eldest living son, Michael Raynor, described his mother's death as "tragic and senseless".
He said: "Your reckless and irresponsible decision to drive under these conditions shattered our family and left a gaping hole in the lives of all who had known her."
Defending Middleton, Simon Eckersley said: "Plainly she was going too fast. Had she been travelling at an appropriate speed, there still would have been a collision, but a collision with less impact.
"She has expressed genuine remorse for the loss of life."
Sentencing Middleton, Judge Steven Coupland said the defendant "chose to drive in an aggressive way" at a speed that was inappropriate for the road.
He added that the combination of each substance was "likely to have increased the effects of the other" when Middleton was driving.
He said: "Her family and friends will suffer her loss for the rest of their lives. Their future will be marked by an empty seat at the table and a gap in photographs."
The judge also disqualified Middleton from driving for four years.