Five years for driver who killed cyclist while using mobile phone

Published on Friday 29 February 2008 21:45

A SPEEDING driver who was sending a text message when she hit and killed a teenage cyclist was yesterday jailed for four years.

Kiera Coultas, 25, a hotel manager, was replying to a message on her mobile phone when she hit Jordan Wickington, 19, a scaffolder.

The teenager, who was not wearing a helmet, stopped at traffic lights momentarily and went through them on red.

Coultas admitted that her BMW was doing 45mph in a 30mph zone when she drove across a junction in Southampton shortly after 7am on 7 February last year.

Coultas, who has a four-year-old daughter, did not see him because she was replying to a text message from her estranged husband, Southampton Crown Court heard.

Mr Wickington, from Netley Abbey, Hampshire, died in hospital later that day.

The court heard that Coultas, from Hythe, in Hampshire, had received three fixed-penalty tickets for speeding – two of the offences were committed on a road leading to the junction.

She denied one count of dangerous driving but was found guilty by a jury.

The judge, Jeremy Burford, QC, sentenced her to four years in jail and disqualified her from driving for five years.

He said: "The serious part of your conduct was that you were sending a text on your mobile phone, having just received one."

He added: "It occurred at precisely the worst time because you failed to see the cyclist who was crossing the road, having gone through the red light, and travelling as you were at 45mph, you hit him, and he suffered injuries from which he later died."

Mr Burford accepted the "shock and remorse" and "severe symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder" Coultas had suffered since the crash.

He ruled that she would have to take an extended driving test after the five-year ban.

Daniel Hickman, 32, the dead man's half-brother, said in his victim impact statement, which was read to the court: "The major thing is knowing that whatever happens in my life from this point onwards … Jordan is not there to share the moment.

"He is always in my mind and any happiness I feel in my life is dampened by the fact my brother has gone at such a young age.

"I don't think Jordan's death has completely sunk in. I now know how it feels to lose someone so close to you. It's like having a part of you taken away."

His mother, Christine, in her victim impact statement, described the moment she was told that her 19-year-old son was not expected to live.

"Our lives changed forever on 7 February, 2007. As I held his hand and stroked his face as he slipped away, I felt as if someone had reached inside and ripped out part of my heart and soul."

Mrs Wickington described Jordan as "kind, thoughtful and chatty".