A woman has been acquitted in the Barrack Road crash that killed a motorcyclist. The jury found her not guilty after deliberation.
Mr. Gaspar was riding his motorbike when he swerved to avoid a road divider. CCTV showed he was 68 feet from Miss Hardwick, who was turning in her Suzuki Swift.
Miss Hardwick saw a silver car coming and thought she had enough room to turn. Mr. Gaspar’s motorbike hit her car’s side. He died almost instantly from the impact; he was married with kids and was going to his IT job.
Her lawyer, Emma Scott, spoke after the incident. She stated Mr. Gaspar exceeded the speed limit and noted children and pedestrians were nearby at the time.
The lawyer added that speed mattered; if Mr. Gaspar drove slower, the crash wouldn’t have happened, and Miss Hardwick would have turned safely, she argued.
Miss Hardwick, 28, remembered rush hour traffic. She signaled and moved into the filter lane, wanting to turn off Barrack Road that morning.
She checked three times before turning, saying she’d never turn if it felt unsafe. The silver car seemed far enough away, and she didn’t need to shift gears, traveling slowly at the time. She focused on the difficult junction and checked for children near the school.
Her judgment was that she could cross safely, and she wasn’t listening to music in the car. She does not recall all details; the crash happened very fast, she stated. She just remembered him hitting her own car and that she did appropriate checks and didn’t assume she had the right-of-way.
She stated, “He was speeding. He came out of nowhere.” She applied the brakes immediately, and her airbag went off after the crash. A woman told her not to look. She felt shocked and fell down; someone called her mom and emergency help.
She didn’t think her driving was substandard. “I would never have turned if I saw him,” she said.
A jury found her not guilty at court, and a friend said it was an enormous relief. They expressed hope for moving forward.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) respects the decision. Their role is to assess evidence fairly and decide if charges should be considered. The CPS believed there was enough evidence and thought it was in the public’s interest for a jury to consider the charges.