UK: Court lets off 78-yr-old man who killed wife’s best friend after confusing car accelerator for brake

Henry booth with his wife walking out of court. Source: Twitter

Droylsden (UK): A court here on Friday spared jail-term to a 78-year-old man who had run over and killed his wife’s friend as he was taking them out for lunch, after he told court that he got confused with brake and accelerator.

The decision came as the deceased woman’s family appealed for leniency.

Henry Booth, 78, of Droylsden, Greater Manchester, was parking his car at a local pub when it suddenly rolled forward after he accidentally pushed the accelerator instead of the brake.

The incident occurred last year on October 21 when his wife Joan and two family friends were walking into the Haddon Hall pub.

Reportedly, Barbara Daniels, 83, died as a result of fatal crush injuries while Mrs Booth, in her 70s and Rita Robinson, who suffered a fractures in Pelvic region, back and shoulders.

Both are now recovering at home.

When produced before the court, Booth admitted to the charges and faced up to five years of jail-term.

He was, however, conditionally discharged for a year after Mrs Daniels’ family made an emotional courtroom plea in which they forgave him and insisted they had ‘no malice’ towards him.

Mrs Daniel’s son Stephen said in a statement: ‘We as a family are obviously devastated at the death of my mother in such a situation and tragic circumstances.

He said that since the beginning the family had not wanted Henry to be charged or to face any criminal consequences.

“He and his wife have always been very good to my mother, such as running her to appointments and such like and it is very sad that one of those good deeds led to my mother’s death,” said Stephen.

The court heard that the tragedy occurred when the group were about to have one of their regular lunches together.

“The defendant stopped his vehicle and the three passengers, one of whom was his wife Joan and two friends Barbara Daniels and Rita Robinson, got out,” prosecutor Andrew Hey said.

Mrs. Daniels and Mrs. Booth were walking in front of the car when the defendant abruptly drove forward, colliding with all three females.

Mrs Daniels fell in front and was run over, resulting in her death. She was 83 years old. Mrs Booth suffered a pelvic fracture, while Mrs Robinson suffered a fracture to her left shoulder and a minor back fracture.

The defendant’s vehicle continued to travel forward in the car park striking a Mitsubishi Outlander parked and unattended.

Mr Booth stated in an interview that when he unexpectedly began to move forward, he pressed the accelerator rather than the brake.

He claimed that there was insufficient time to correct his error prior to the collision.

In mitigation defence solicitor Howard Bernstein said: “We lawyers can become desensitised to these types of cases but this one is genuinely tragic – over and above many cases that we deal with all the time”.

“I was impressed by the way Stephen Daniels was able to deal with this because he has lost his mother and the grandchildren have lost their grandmother in what he says were tragic circumstances,” the counsel said.

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