Latest news with #RaynerMiddleton
The Sun
10-07-2025
- The Sun
Speeding driver on cocaine who killed great-grandma, 89, after ploughing her Audi into mobility scooter is jailed
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. 2 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. 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. 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. 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. 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." 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." 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. "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.
Daily Mail
10-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Speeding driver, 31, who hit and killed woman, 89, on mobility scooter after taking cocaine is jailed for four years
A speeding driver has been jailed for four years after ploughing into an 89-year-old great-grandmother as she crossed a road on her mobility scooter while heading to buy vegetables for a family dinner. Rayner Middleton, 31, pleaded guilty to causing the 'tragic and senseless' death of Doreen Raynor by careless driving in a city centre while she had an excess of a cocaine metabolite in her body. A court heard she was 'aggressively' travelling at almost 50mph in a 30mph zone at the wheel of an Audi when she struck the pensioner. The great-great-grandmother, who was just a month shy of her 90th birthday, was rushed to hospital following the incident in March 2023 but pronounced dead hours later after suffering multiple injuries. Sentencing Middleton, Judge Steven Coupland said the victim's family's future 'will forever be marked by an empty space at the table and a blank space in photographs.' He told the defendant: 'I accept you did not set out to kill or harm anyone that day but the reality is you should not have been driving. 'The by-product of your cocaine use was still in your body and was twice the legal limit. You chose to drive in a way that was wholly inappropriate.' Prosecution barrister Nicholas Bleaney told the court, filled with members of both the defendant's and victim's families that Mrs Raynor 'had some mobility issues due to an old injury.' He added: 'She used an electric mobility scooter on most days, this being a device to ensure she retains as much of her independence as possible.' He told the court that Mrs Raynor left her home at 9.45am on the day of her death to buy vegetables to make a Sunday dinner for her family. She had just passed Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena when she was hit on March 4 2023, causing her 'to be thrown out of the scooter causing serious injuries', Mr Bleaney said. She died later that day at Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham. Nottingham Crown Court heard Middleton, who sat dabbing her eyes with a tissue in the dock of the city's crown court, consumed drink and drugs the night before she went to pick up her son. She accepted drinking glasses of baileys and rum the night before, but tested below the legal limit for alcohol when breathalysed at the scene. But the court heard Middleton, of Arnold, Nottingham, had more than double the legal limit of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, in her system at the time of the crash. The court heard that the traffic lights turned amber as the defendant was driving through the crossing, while the pedestrian light for Mrs Raynor was red when she entered the road on her scooter. Mr Bleaney told how shortly after 9.45am, another driver saw Middleton, who was on her way to pick up her eight-year-old son from her mother's house to take him to a football match, park up at a set of traffic lights in her black Audi A1 before accelerating away and pulling in front of his car. Mr Bleaney said: 'He saw the lights change and Mrs Raynor crossing from right to left, and saw the brake lights of the defendant's Audi come on. But there was a collision that caused her to be thrown out of her scooter and suffer very serious injuries.' The prosecutor added that Middleton told police at the scene: 'I was basically driving up here, as I have come the lady has driven out so I have hit her.' The court heard Middleton, a single mother-of-one, was travelling at 46mph before the accident, and accepted she activated her brakes at around 43mph - hitting Mrs Raynor, a widow, at approximately 27mph. He added that Middleton, a paid carer for her mother, was interviewed by police three times and denied taking recreational drugs, also claiming she was driving at 26 or 27mph - something Mr Bleaney said was 'demonstrably not true'. Middleton also denied she was 'rushing' to pick up her son, but Mr Bleaney said the timings she had provided 'suggests there was some rushing going on'. He accepted Mrs Raynor had crossed the road while the pedestrian light showed a 'red man' - but 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.' Two of Mrs Raynor's children read out their victim impact statements at court, with daughter Melanie Frearson telling the judge she was 'horrified' at being told what speed Middleton had been driving at. She added: '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.' Mrs Raynor's eldest living son, Michael Raynor, described his mother's death as '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.' Defending Middleton, Simon Eckersley said: '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.' Mr Eckersley added '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. '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.' The judge also disqualified Middleton from driving for four years. Mrs Raynor began her working life at Nottingham Children's Hospital at the age of 18 before moving on to the city's Savoy Hotel. She then became a staty-at-home mother.
BBC News
10-07-2025
- BBC News
Drug-driver jailed for causing death of woman, 89, in Nottingham
A drug-driver has been jailed for causing the death of an 89-year-old mobility scooter Raynor died in hospital after she was hit by an Audi driven by Rayner Middleton in Huntingdon Street, Nottingham, on 4 March 12 May, the first day of her scheduled trial at Nottingham Crown Court, Middleton admitted causing death by driving without due care while over the specified limit for a controlled 31-year-old was sentenced to four years at the same court on Thursday. The court heard Mrs Raynor had left her house to buy vegetables for an upcoming family meal, while Middleton was driving to pick up her son. Video footage was displayed in court of Middleton's Audi in the minutes before the crash, which showed an undertake described by the prosecution as "aggressive and inappropriate driving".Although the pedestrian light was red when Mrs Raynor was crossing, the court heard Middleton had been driving at about 44mph when her brake lights were Nicholas Bleaney said: "It is not part of this case that the lady was unfit to drive, the key feature was speed."Mrs Raynor's son Michael Raynor told the court in a victim impact statement that his mum's life was "needlessly taken"."The reckless and irresponsible actions of the driver has robbed me of my mum, shattered my family and left a gaping hole in the lives of all who knew her," he court heard Mrs Raynor had had 13 children in total, including an abandoned baby who she had taken in, and was a Raynor's daughter Melanie Frearson described her mother as "a pillar of the family and community"."As well as this, she was the strongest person we knew. She was our iron lady," she Frearson said the memory of her mother's last breath "still haunts" her, and added "the hurt and pain is still unbearable today as it was on the day she died". 'Grossly inappropriate' speed In mitigation, the court heard Middleton, of Nelson Road in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, "acknowledged the devastation she has caused, not only to the Raynor family, but her own"."She wishes she could undo the harm," her defence counsel Simon Eckersley Eckersley said when Middleton approached the junction, her light was green, but said "plainly, she was going too fast".She was found to have an excess of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, in her system when the crash Steven Coupland said: "I accept you did not set out to cause a collision but the reality is you should not have been said Middleton "chose to drive in an aggressive way at a speed that was grossly inappropriate" for that particular street."Had you been driving within the speed limit the collision may not have happened at all," he Coupland also disqualified Middleton from driving for four years, noting her previous lack of custodial sentences and clean driving record.
BBC News
12-05-2025
- BBC News
Doreen Raynor: Drug-driver admits causing death of woman, 89
A woman has admitted causing the death of an 89-year-old mobility scooter rider by crashing into her while driving under the influence of drugs in Nottingham city Raynor died in hospital after being hit by Rayner Middleton's Audi in Huntingdon Street on 4 March 31-year-old admitted causing death by careless driving on the scheduled first day of her trial at the city's crown court on of Nelson Road, Arnold, Nottinghamshire, had been found to have an excess of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, in her system when the crash happened. She was handed an interim driving disqualification and is due to be sentenced at the same court on 10 July.
