Woman spared jail one year after killing motorcyclist

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Danielle Atterton (pictured), of Barn Close, Bullbrook, admitted one count of causing death by careless driving and was banned from driving for 12 months and given a 12-month community service order when she appeared at Reading Crown Court on Monday, December 4.

The court heard she had been approaching a large sweeping t-junction and claimed she looked left and right three times before making the turn – and ploughing into the side of 22-year-old motorcyclist Kane.

When passers-by rushed to the scene moments after the crash, Atterton was heard saying on her mobile phone “I’ve crashed into him” as the damaged bike and its rider lay in the middle of the road.

The motorcycle’s engine was still running and the front wheel was still turning as a local woman named in court as Mrs Robinson took Atterton’s phone from her shaking hands and dialled 999.

The mother of two children looked down as she sat in the dock and awaited her sentencing.

A number of family members of both the victim and the defendant sat in court as the details of the early evening crash, which happened on a junction between Lily Hill Road and Lily Hill Drive, in Bracknell.

The judge accepted the phenomenon where a driver looks but doesn’t see could have taken place when Atterton pulled out onto the road and had genuinely believed the area was clear. However she was told that she had not suffered a momentary lapse in attention after admitting to police that she had looked at the road three times.

An accident investigator confirmed that Atterton would have have seen the biker, who was from Bracknell, from 125 metres away and that she had probably not responded to the crash until after it had taken place.

Isabel Delamere, prosecuting said: “Miss Atterton was heard repeating ‘I did not see him, I did not see him’ moments after the crash by Mrs Robinson who used the driver’s phone to call 999.

“She told police she thought she had gone to react to the biker by braking but her foot had slipped and she pressed the accelerator instead. She said she hid her face when she saw him there as she knew there was nothing else to be done.”

Alan Walker, defending, said: “Miss Atterton’s mental health has been severely impacted since the incident occurred. I say this not to take away from how those close to the victim will be feeling, she knows that others must be suffering much more.

“Witnesses said that after the crash Miss Atterton was in such shock her hands were shaking so much that she could not even use her phone to call emergency services.

“She has shown genuine remorse,” he added.

Sentencing Atterton Judge Stephen John said: “You moved out of the Junction into the path of the motorcyclist who was on the main road despite it clearly displaying lights and driving at an appropriate speed.

“It is uncertain why your car moved out in the way that it did but it seems you saw the motorcycle at the last minute and it was a case that one minute he was not there and the next he was.

“You drove into the path of the motorcyclist when he was there and clear to be seen, which shows you did not adequately check before you moved into the road.

“Kane suffered a massive head injury and for 11 days the family were put through the anguish of watching him on life support over the Christmas period, until they agreed to turn off the machine when it was clear nothing could be done for him.

“You were 31 years old at the time and you will soon be 33. You have deprived a family and his friends of their son and his friendship and no sentence will lessen their grief.

“Their lives have been devastated by this and their personal impact statements make for a heart-wrenching read.

“It was not a momentary lack of attention, that does not apply to you as there was ample visibility to react to the vehicle.”

Atterton, from Barn Close, Bracknell, was given a 12 month community order and banned from driving for 12 months.