A pedestrian who shouted and waved her arm at a cyclist, causing her to fall into the path of an oncoming car, has had her manslaughter conviction quashed at the Court of Appeal.
Auriol Gray was seen on CCTV shouting at retired midwife Celia Ward to 'get off the bloody pavement' in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, causing her to fall onto the road.
Grandmother Mrs Ward, 77, from Wyton, Cambridgeshire, died after being hit by a car in the October 2020 incident.
Ms Gray, who has cerebral palsy and partial blindness, denied manslaughter but was found guilty after a retrial and jailed for three years in March 2023.
But at the end of a hearing Wednesday, three judges at the Court of Appeal agreed London overturned her conviction.
Auriol Grey, the disabled pensioner who was jailed for causing the death of a cyclist on the street, has had her manslaughter conviction quashed.
Gray shouted “Get off the sidewalk” when a retired midwife approached her on the sidewalk
CCTV footage showed Ms Ward falling onto the road just before she was hit by a car
Dame Victoria Sharp, joined by Mrs Justice Yip and Mrs Justice Farbey, said: 'In our judgment the prosecution case was insufficient even to be left to the jury.'
She continued: “In all the circumstances, we have no hesitation in concluding that appellant's conviction for manslaughter is unsafe.”
The court heard that Ms Grey, who attended the hearing, was charged with the tort of manslaughter – which requires an unlawful act to occur which results in death.
However, her lawyers told appellate judges that such a “predicate crime” was never established at trial.
Adrian Darbishire QC, for Ms Grey, said: 'The trial appears to have proceeded on the basis that some form of illegality, undefined and unspecified, was sufficient to justify this offense of murder.'
CCTV footage showed Celia Ward (pictured with her husband David) wobbling on the road in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, where she was hit by a VW Passat
Dame Victoria and her fellow appeal judges agreed, ruling that the jury was not asked to decide 'the fundamental question of whether there was a predicate offence'.
The senior judge continued: 'The appellant's actions that day contributed to the untimely death of Ms Ward… Had Ms Ward not died, we consider it inconceivable that the appellant would have been charged with assault.'
Ms Grey's actions were described as 'hostile gestures' towards Ms Ward at her original trial.
However, Mr Darbishire said in the appeal: 'Hostile gestures are not a crime or 50,000 football fans would be arrested every weekend.'
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had responded to the appeal, with barrister Simon Spence KC telling the court it was accepted that 'common assault was not named as a predicate offence'.
After the judges handed down their ruling, Mr Spence asked for Ms Gray's case to be sent back to the Crown Court for a retrial, which was rejected.