York cyclist jailed for crash which hospitalised pedestrian

A cyclist who seriously injured a pedestrian after crashing into her “at great speed” on a footpath has been jailed for eight months.

Lisa Wade, 46, was sentenced at York Crown Court under the Victorian-era legislation of causing bodily harm by wanton and furious driving.

Victim Ruth Kitching, 64, was knocked over and needed hip replacement surgery after the crash on 24 March last year.

Wade, of Tudor Road in York, admitted the charge and was said to be “genuinely remorseful”.

The court heard how the accident happened when Wade rounded a blind corner at a “furious speed” and crashed into Ms Kitching as she stood on the footpath near Green Lane roundabout in York having a conversation.

Prosecutor Laura McBride said Wade had been “highly impaired by alcohol” at the time of the crash.

She was also said to be steering with only one hand as she was carrying a bag of dog food with her other hand.

A police officer who inspected her bike after the crash confirmed it had no working brakes.

In a victim statement read out by the prosecution, Ms Kitching said it was a long time before she was able to return to full-time work and when she did, she was not able to work to the same capacity.

“This accident has made me helpless,” she added.

“I hope one day to be back to full fitness, but I think, with my age against me, this might not be the case.”

Defence barrister Nicholas Hammond said that Wade’s actions were “reckless in the extreme” but she was “genuinely remorseful”.

Causing bodily harm by wanton and furious driving is an offence introduced in the mid-19th Century as part of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

One of the reasons it was originally enacted was to address the dangers posed by the increasing use of horse-drawn carriages and, subsequently, early motor vehicles.

Sentencing Wade, whose criminal record includes 137 previous offences, Recorder Taryn Turner said her riding had led to “tragic” consequences for the victim.

She said: “You shouldn’t have been on the pavement and your bike should have been mechanically sound, but it wasn’t.”

“I’m quite satisfied you made a deliberate decision to ignore the rules of the road and had a total disregard for the risk that your riding of this bike presented, which was obviously highly dangerous,” the recorder added.

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