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19
Sept 2023
Ripon Conservatives president acquitted of causing death by careless driving
A hotel boss and Tory constituency president has been found not guilty of causing the death of a grandmother by careless driving.
Nicholas Ayrton Bannister, 64, president of Skipton and Ripon Conservatives, was driving his Range Rover in his hotel and spa complex when it collided with 66-year-old Judith Wadsworth who was crossing a pedestrian walkway.
Mrs Wadsworth, who was a guest at the hotel and was there to see her daughter get married, is believed to have died at the scene of the accident at the Coniston Hotel Country Estate & Spa in Skipton.
Mr Bannister, the hotel’s managing director, was charged with causing death by careless driving but denied the allegation and, following a trial at Bradford Crown Court which lasted over a week, the prosecution today decided to offer no further evidence.
Judge Jonathan Gibson directed the jury to return a formal not-guilty verdict and Mr Bannister was allowed to walk free from court.
Prosecuting barrister Michael Smith said that the “evidential test” had not been met and that there was no longer a “realistic prospect of conviction”.
He said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) would therefore be offering no further evidence against Mr Bannister.
He added:
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Defence barrister Lisa Judge said there had been “flagrant failings” by the CPS in its prosecution of the case, both evidentially and in terms of disclosure.
She said the defence would be seeking costs for Mr Bannister following the prosecution’s decision to drop the case and the not-guilty verdict.
Judge Mr Gibson said he thought the prosecution’s decision to drop the case was “entirely appropriate”.
During the trial, the jury heard that Mr Bannister had turned right out of a junction near the hotel reception and didn’t see Mrs Wadsworth.
The prosecution said that Mrs Wadsworth, who was walking from the car park back to the reception after collecting items from her vehicle, fell under the vehicle but it was not until Mr Bannister got out of his vehicle 20 metres down the road that he realised he had struck someone.
Mrs Wadsworth, who was staying at the country hotel in Coniston Cold to see her daughter Rebecca Blacka get married, suffered fatal injuries.
Ms Blacka was in the hotel reception at the time of the fatal collision at about 5.20pm on Feb 7, 2020.
Mr Bannister, of Mark House Lane, Bell Busk, near Skipton, had driven the vehicle around a turning circle outside reception and turned right when the Range Rover ran over Mrs Wadsworth on the walkway between the car park and reception area.
A family statement following Mrs Wadsworth’s death described her as “a devoted wife, mother and grandmother”.
“Judith was a beautiful, selfless person and no words can express our sense of loss and devastation right now,” the statement said.
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