KILLER'S BID
Pedestrian who killed OAP cyclist after she fell in road following pavement clash LOSES appeal against sentence
A PEDESTRIAN caged for killing an OAP cyclist in a pavement row has today lost an appeal against her sentence.
Auriol Grey, 49, gestured in a "hostile and aggressive"; way to Celia Ward and told her to "get off the f***ing pavement".
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Shocking footage then showed the 77-year-old veering into the road where she was hit by a car.
Grey had launched a bid to appeal against her three-year sentence for manslaughter.
Her legal team argued the prison term was "excessive" and that an autism diagnosis secured after her trial may have made a difference to the case.
But judges at the Court of Appeal today refused to grant permission for the appeal, arguing the sentence was "not arguably manifestly excessive".
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The two women were passing each other on the street in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, in October 2020 when the horror unfolded.
Grey, who suffers from cognitive and mobility issues and is partially sighted, could be seen raising her hand as Celia cycled towards her on the pavement.
The retired midwife then lost her balance and staggered into the road in the path of an oncoming VW Passat.
Shockingly, Grey then fled on foot to Sainsbury's to buy her shopping as paramedics were scrambled to the scene.
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She claimed she felt "anxious" as the bike was travelling "fast" in the .
Grey also suggested she could have lifted her hand "unintentionally" as Celia cycled towards her.
Although it is illegal to cycle on the pavement, the court was told police could not "categorically" state whether the street was a shared cycleway.
But sentencing Grey, Judge Sean Enright said she was "territorial about the pavement" and "resented" the cyclist being there.
Following the sentencing, Celia's daughter Gillian Hayter said: "The lack of any remorse from the accused cannot be underestimated in having a profound effect on us all.
"I can still remember the details of the conversation on hearing my mother was killed in a cycling accident.
"The panic and disbelief and shock of losing her in such an awful accident was hard to comprehend.
"But the news that it was not a tragic accident but a deliberate act of violence was incomprehensible."
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