Hull Woman Jailed Over Text Death Crash
13 December 2012, 16:21 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50
A judge has jailed a young motorist who caused a fatal crash near Hull because she was texting at the wheel.
20 year old Nikita Ainley, was sent to a young offenders' institution for three and a half years after she admitted causing the death of 68 year old Mary Rutherford.
Ainley was driving to work at Asda in Bilton, near Hull, in her Renault Clio when she ploughed into a Fiat Panda, the court heard. She was 18 at the time.
Mrs Rutherford, from Withernsea, East Yorkshire, was in the back seat of the Fiat, returning from a supermarket trip with friends.
The judge said the result of the crash, in a country lane between Hull and Withernsea, was a “scene of devastation''.
Ainley initially denied she had been texting on her BlackBerry at the time of the crash. She said she had pulled over in order to exchange messages with a friend about a night out.
But Humberside Police found that the last of two messages she sent was transmitted only 48 seconds before a witness to the crash dialled 999.
Ainley, from Roos, East Yorkshire, who has no previous convictions and was described as being a “normal young woman”, was banned from driving for five years and ordered to take an extended driving test if she wants to drive again. She cried as she was led down the steps to the cells.
