Speeding driver on cocaine who killed great-grandma, 89, after ploughing her Audi into mobility scooter is jailed

The Irish Sun

10-07-2025

A SPEEDING driver with cocaine in her system killed a great-grandma after crashing into her mobility scooter.
Rayner Middleton, 31, ploughed into 89-year-old Doreen Raynor as she barreled through a 30mph zone at nearly 50mph.
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Doreen Raynor, 89, was in a mobility scooter when she was hit by a car
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Rayner Middleton, 31, had more than double the legal limit of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, in her system
Doreen had been out to buy food for a Sunday dinner with her family later that night, when the tragedy unfolded on March 4, 2023.
Middleton hit the pensioner with her Audi at a pedestrian crossing just past Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena at around 10am.
Nottingham Crown Court heard the great-grandmother, who was just a month shy of her 90th birthday, was rushed to hospital.
She was sadly pronounced dead a short time later at Queen's Medical Centre.
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Prosecuting, Nicholas Bleaney, told the court Doreen was "thrown out of the scooter causing serious injuries".
The court also heard how Middleton, who was sobbing in the dock, had drank alcohol and taken drugs the night before.
On the morning of the horror, she was on her way to pick up her eight-year-old son.
Tests later revealed she had more than double the legal limit of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, in her system at the time.
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The single mum-of-one tested below the legal limit for alcohol when breathalysed at the scene.
The court heard traffic lights turned amber as Middleton went through the crossing.
The pedestrian light, for Doreen, was red when she went across in her mobility scooter.
Mr Bleaney told how a witness saw the lights change and Mrs Raynor going into the road.
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They also saw Middleton's Audi brake lights come on.
Middleton admitted to police at the scene: "I was basically driving up here, as I have come the lady has driven out so I have hit her."
Analysis discovered the speeding driver was travelling at around 46mph.
She activated her brakes at 43mph meaning she would have been going at around 27mph when she struck Doreen.
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The prosecution argued Middleton had been "rushing" to pick up her son, although the defendant denied this.
Mr Bleaney said: "The sad fact is that if she had been travelling at speed she should have done Mrs Raynor would have got across the junction.
"She was driving at a speed that is inappropriate for the prevailing road conditions.
"It is not the Crown's case that this lady is unfit to drive. The key feature of this case is speed."
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Two of Doreen's children read out their victim impact statements at court.
Heartbroken daughter Melanie Frearson told the court: "Our mum was known to everyone as 'Mar' and she had 13 children in total - one of them was an abandoned child - but she still took her in which tells you about the sort of person she was.
"She suffered sadness and tragedy but despite this, she was the most kind person, she did not judge another person.
"She would always say 'they are someone's child'. She was the kindest, caring, most giving and loving person and she was the strongest person you could wish for."
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Mrs Raynor's eldest living son, Michael Raynor, called his mother's death "tragic and senseless".
He said: "Your reckless and irresponsible decision to drive under these conditions shattered our family and left a gaping hole in the lives of all who had known her."
Meanwhile, defending, Simon Eckersley told the court: "Plainly she was going too fast. Had she been travelling at an appropriate speed, there still would have been a collision, but a collision with less impact.
"She always denied and she continues to deny driving while unfit through drugs, and the Crown now do not assert she was unfit through drugs.
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"The key factor in this case was her speed. In her pre-sentence report she now acknowledges what she's done and the report author recognises she is remorseful. She genuinely wishes she could undo the harm she's caused."
Middleton was sentenced to four years and pleaded guilty to causing Doreen's death by careless driving.
The judge also disqualified Middleton from driving for four years.