Leave to Appeal Granted in Pavement Cyclist Manslaughter Case

Yesterday the Court of Appeal granted Auriol Grey leave to appeal her 2023 conviction for manslaughter.

On the afternoon of 20 October 2020 Ms Grey, who is disabled and partially-sighted, was walking along the pavement in central Huntingdon.  Celia Ward, then aged 77, was cycling on the pavement towards Ms Grey.   Ms Grey shouted that the cyclist should get off the pavement and gestured towards the road with her left arm.  As Mrs Ward passed Ms Grey, very close to the edge of the pavement, she toppled into the road and into the path of an oncoming car.  She was killed instantly.

The essence of the appeal is that the legal directions given at the trial were wrong.  Had the correct legal test been identified at the start of the trial process, it would have been apparent that the actions of Ms Grey were incapable in law of amounting to the offence of manslaughter.

Ms Grey was represented at the hearing by Adrian Darbishire KC, Tom Doble and Brad Lewis of QEB, instructed by Ben Rose of Hickman & Rose, all acting pro bono.

The substantive appeal will be heard in May 2024.

National press reports here:

BBC