Grandmother, 72, is run over by driver, 29, who did not see her because his eyesight was deteriorating… as her killer is jailed for 10 months
- Mary Phillips, 72, died from a fractured skull after she was tragically hit by a car
- The woman had been on her way home from Asda in Cwbran, South Wales
- Cardiff Crown Court heard the driver’s poor eyesight meant he did not see her
- Jordan Horder was sentenced to 21 months, serving half before being released
A grandmother was hit by a car and killed because the driver had not spotted her due to his deteriorating eyesight.
Mary Phillips, 72, died from a fractured skull after she was chucked onto the car’s bonnet before being thrown into the road.
The old woman was making her way home after shopping in Asda, when 29-year-old Jordan Horder’s silver Volkswagen Golf struck her.
At a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court today heard that the driver had a number of visual impairments and was effectively blind in one eye when he fatally struck Mrs Phillips in Cwmbran, Wales.
Horder had not seen the victim until she hit his window screen. Following the crash, he stopped and called an ambulance.
Mary Phillips, 72, died from a fractured skull after she was thrown onto the cars bonnet before being thrown into the road in Cwmbran, Wales
Prosecutor Eugene Egan said the lights were green to traffic when Mrs Phillips crossed the road, but the driver should have been able to see her and stop.
She said: ‘Legitimate criticisms could be made of the defendant, he failed to see the deceased, he failed to keep a proper look out, failed to steer his car to avoid her, and failed to brake.
‘The underlying cause of all these failures is he failed to keep his eyesight under adequate review ongoing at the time.
‘He failed a number plate test at sufficient levels to keep eyesight acuity. It was a wholly avoidable accident and a fatal road traffic collision occurred because he drove carelessly.’
An off-duty paramedic rushed to the scene to help Mrs Phillips as she lay dying in the road.
Horder told the medical worker: ‘I didn’t see her before, I know she has hit my car and has hit my windscreen.’
When police arrived, Horder was tested for drugs and alcohol but was negative. He had not been speeding at the time of the crash and his vehicle had no defects.
The following day, on November 28 2020, Mrs Phillips was pronounced dead having suffered from a fractured skull, and subarachnoid haemorrhage, as well as injuries to her left upper chest.
Horder was said to have significant eyesight issues since he was a teen having surgery on his right eye in 2007.
Cardiff Crown Court heard today that driver Jordan Horder had deteriorating eyesight that meant he did not see Mrs Phillips as she crossed the road, on the way home from her shopping trip at Asda
Optometrist Gareth Ward said the driver was ‘basically blind in one eye’ and needed contact lenses in his left eye.
In 2020, he failed an eye test and was advised not to drive but in August that year he was regarded as fit to drive.
By December 2020, his eyesight had deteriorated, and he was found to be not fit to drive. His licence has not been revoked by the DVLA.
Horder, of The Crescent, Cwmbran, was arrested and initially denied being responsible for the crash, saying the glare from the green light had affected his vision.
But later he pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving. The court heard he was of previously good character.
In a victim personal statement read out to the court, Mrs Phillips’ son David Johnson said: ‘Seeing my mother that night lying cold and unresponsive attached to life support and listening to medical staff explaining there would be no recovery is one of the hardest things I have had to experience.
‘As a family our lives were turned upside down, I still can’t believe she is gone.’
Mr Johnson said his mother gave birth to him when she was just 16 and left school with no qualifications but attended community college as an adult and qualified as a nurse and midwife.
He said her interests included her garden, reading, the theatre and travelling, as well as a ‘voracious appetite’ for politics and news.
He added: ‘I didn’t tell her often enough how much she meant to me and wish I said it more.’
The victim’s daughter Tracey Johnson described her mother as a ‘fit and healthy’ 72-year-old woman who ‘loved life and lived it to the full’.
She said: ‘What haunts me is that our mum to all intents and purposes died at the side of the road that cold and wet November evening, she was not surrounded by the people who loved her… That is not how she should have died.’
‘We know she wouldn’t have lived forever but she was taken too soon and that makes us very angry and very sad.
‘She went out to buy chocolates and never came home. Mum deserved a better end to her life.’
In mitigation, defence barrister Heath Edwards said his client was ‘utterly devastated’ by the consequences of his driving and ‘feels awful’ for causing heartache to Mrs Phillips’ family.
He said accepted someone with ‘adequate eyesight’ may have seen Mrs Phillips crossing the road and the collision could have been avoided.
He added: ‘If he could turn back the hands of time, that is something he would gladly do.’
Addressing Mrs Phillips family, Judge Michael Fitton KC said: ‘I want to pay testimony to the courage you had in coming to this court and reading those carefully composed but powerfully eloquent statements.
‘Nobody listening to that, including the defendant and his family, could fail to be moved in the depth of your love for Mary.
‘She was the beating heart of your family.” This was an event that should never have happened and need not have happened. It was wholly unavoidable.’
Judge Fitton told Horder that only an immediate custodial sentence could be justified.
The defendant was sentenced to 21 months’ imprisonment, of which he will serve half before being released on licence.