22-05-2025
Moment killer driver overtakes bus and ploughs head-on into OAP's car: Man is jailed for smash that killed 87-year-old as she tried to make the short trip to buy her newspaper
This is the moment a driver overtook a bus and ploughed in to an elderly woman's car, killing her as he sped down the road.
Matthew Parrott, 42, overtook a bus on a road with double white lines and collided with an oncoming Ford Fiesta car, killing 87-year-old Margaret Lee who was out to buy her morning paper.
Parrot was jailed for three years on Thursday and his defence described him as 'genuinely remorseful'.
The court heard that despite passing a sign warning of hidden dips and 'slow' being written on the road, the driver made the dangerous manoeuvre and overtook the bus which was driving at 42mph along a 50mph road.
Parrott from Bewtown, mid Wales, admitted causing the death of Ms Lee by driving his Honda Civic dangerously on the A458 at Middletown, between Welshpool and Shrewsbury on November 27, 2023.
The pensioner, who lived locally and was driving just a short distance from her home to buy a newspaper that morning, had 'catastrophic' injuries.
Mr Parry said she died at the regional trauma unit at Stoke on Trent the same day.
Dafydd Roberts, defending, said Parrott was 'struggling to come to terms with the fact his actions resulted in the death.'
He added: 'This is someone genuinely remorseful.'
There were no previous convictions and Parrott was successful in his career.
Judge Timothy Petts imposed a six-and-a-half years ban with an extended test.
He told Parrott: 'It's clear Margaret Lee had absolutely no chance to avoid what happened. There was no need to overtake and clearly an unsafe place to overtake.'
The judge said Parrott had lost concentration for a few seconds and thought, wrongly, that he had time to pass the bus.
'Only a sentence of imprisonment will do,' Judge Petts added.
