Auriol Grey: Woman who caused cyclist to fall into path of car has manslaughter conviction overturned
A woman who shouted and waved aggressively at a cyclist on the pavement, causing her to fall into the path of a car, has had her conviction for manslaughter overturned and walked free from court.
CCTV showed Auriol Grey shout “get off the f****** pavement” as Celia Ward approached her in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, in October 2020.
The 77-year-old then veered off the 2.4m-wide path into the road.
Mrs Ward, a grandmother, died after she was struck by a car.
Grey, who has cerebral palsy and was described by her lawyer as “partially blind”, was given a three-year jail sentence in March 2023 after being convicted of manslaughter.
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March 2023: Woman jailed over cyclist’s manslaughter
But the Court of Appeal ruled today that the manslaughter conviction should be overturned and she walked free from court.
Dame Victoria Sharp, sitting with Mrs Justice Yip and Mrs Justice Farbey, said: “In our judgment, the prosecution case was insufficient even to be left to the jury.”
She added: “In all the circumstances, we have no hesitation in concluding that the appellant’s conviction for manslaughter is unsafe.”
Celia Ward (right). Pic: PA
Following the ruling, Grey’s family said: “Whilst we welcome the decision of the Court of Appeal our thoughts today are also with the Ward family and I am sure a day doesn’t go by when they don’t remember their tragic loss.
“There has been unnecessary and prolonged suffering and vulnerable people like Auriol need better support from the justice system – we hope lessons will be learnt.
“After a tough start she has strived over decades to build a normal life without seeking attention and we don’t underestimate the difficulties she will face rebuilding this.”
It was decided earlier this year, in March, that Grey could appeal against her sentence.
At the time, it was argued that Grey’s sentence had been “excessive” and that an autism diagnosis secured after the trial may have made a difference in the case.
The court had heard that Grey had been charged with unlawful act manslaughter – which requires an unlawful action to take place that caused death.
However, her lawyers argued to appeal judges that no such “base offence” was ever identified during the trial.
Adrian Darbishire KC, for Grey, said: “The trial seems to have proceeded on the basis that some kind of unlawfulness, undefined and unspecified, was sufficient to found this offence of homicide.”
Dame Victoria and her fellow appeal judges agreed, ruling that jurors were not asked to decide “the fundamental question of whether a base offence was established”.
CCTV showed Grey walking along the pavement shortly before the incident. Pic: PA
The senior judge continued: “The appellant’s actions that day contributed to Mrs Ward’s untimely death… Had Mrs Ward not died we regard it as inconceivable that the appellant would have been charged with assault.”
Grey’s actions were described as “hostile gesticulation” during the trial.
But this, Mr Darbishire said in the appeal, was “not a crime, otherwise we would have 50,000 football fans each weekend being apprehended”.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had responded to the appeal, with its barrister Simon Spence KC telling the court it was accepted that “common assault as the base offence was not identified by name”.
After the judges had given their ruling, Mr Spence asked for Grey’s case to be sent back to the crown court for a retrial, which was denied.
In a separate statement, Grey’s legal team said that neither Mrs Ward’s family or Grey’s “should ever have been put through this ordeal”.
They said: “As the court found, once the legal elements of the offence were properly understood, it was clear that there was no proper basis for Ms Grey to be convicted of manslaughter, or indeed any offence. As a result, her conviction was quashed.
“Ms Grey simply should never have been charged.”
The lawyers continued: “Mrs Ward should never have been faced with the choice between cycling on the pavement or cycling on a busy and dangerous ring road.
“Had a clear and well-signed cycle path been in place, safely separating vulnerable pedestrians such as Ms Grey, this accident would never have occurred.
“Equally, misconceived prosecutions and wrongful convictions such as this cause untold pain to all those affected, including the family of the deceased, as well as the person wrongly accused.”
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The parents of survivors of the Southport attack have revealed the “untold stories” of how their “hero” children escaped.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, murdered Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, in what the chairman of the public inquiry Sir Adrian Fulford called “one of the most egregious crimes in our country’s history”.
Eight children were injured along with two adults at a Taylor Swift-themed class in the Merseyside seaside town on 29 July last year, while 15 others escaped without physical injuries.
The surviving victims and their families have been granted anonymity during the inquiry, with one girl referred to as C3. Her father was the first to give evidence at Liverpool Town Hall on Wednesday.
Alice da Silva Aguiar, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King were murdered in the attack
Reading a statement on behalf of him and his wife, he told how their daughter was the first girl to escape the scene by running from the Hart Space building and hiding behind a parked car before jumping through an open car door.
“Our nine-year-old daughter was stabbed three times in the back by a coward she didn’t even see,” he said.
“Although she didn’t know what was happening – she knew she had to run. She ran out of the studio door, down the stairs, and out of the building.”
Read more: Southport inquiry as it happened
He said she can be seen “looking scared, confused and pained” in CCTV footage of the incident, adding: “It was troubling for us to see what she had to go through, before either of her parents had arrived at the scene.”
“We are so thankful and proud that despite being critically injured, she was able to make the decisions she did in that terrible moment,” he said.
The girl’s father said his daughter “continues to astound” them with the way she dealt with the attack and her recovery, saying: “It has been inspiring for us to witness.”
Inquiry chair Sir Adrian Fulford at Liverpool Town Hall. Pic: PA
He said she has difficulty sleeping, experiences flashbacks, looks over her shoulder scanning for potential danger when she leaves the house, has a fear of loud noises and has to turn off some songs when they come on the radio.
“Our daughter knows that she is loved,” he said.
“It is through this support and love that she will continue to thrive. We couldn’t be prouder of her. She is our hero.”
Stabbed 33 times
The parents of a girl referred to as C1 told how their “beautiful, articulate, fun-loving little girl” was stabbed 33 times.
After being attacked she escaped the building, but Rudakubana was seen dragging her back inside in CCTV footage played during his sentencing hearing, which drew gasps in court, before she was stabbed 20 more times.
“That is how she became known in this nightmare. The girl that was dragged back in,” her mother said.
Police at the scene. Pic: PA
She thanked the teachers who escaped to call police and flag down help but said: “The most painful of truths for us though, and what has been most devastating to come to terms with, is that there were no adults to help during both of her attacks.
“She was only supported by other children. The courage and strength she found leaves me crushed, but in complete awe.”
She added: “It is these untold stories of remarkable strength and bravery that are missing when we have heard other accounts of this day.”
The mother said the “hours and days that followed the attack were a living hell” and her daughter’s memories – including a concert of her “idol” Taylor Swift – have “been forfeited to make space for the trauma that she carries”.
“We tell her she was brave. How proud we are that she was able to help other girls. How her strength makes us feel strong. How important what she did that day was. She is her own hero. She may be a survivor of this attack, but she is still trying to survive this, every single day,” she said.
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‘We need to understand what went wrong’
Attack ‘changed everything’
The mother of a girl referred to as C8 said she was “like any other seven-year-old little girl”, “with an incredible energy” and “full of life”.
But in a statement read out by a legal representative, she said the attack last year “changed everything” when she got a “panicked phone call” from a friend’s mother, who couldn’t find the girls.
“That moment, the sound of fear in her voice and the panic I felt will never leave me,” she said.
“I rushed to the scene and what I saw is something no parent should ever see. My daughter had sustained serious physical injuries including a stab wound to her arm and a cut to her face and chin.”
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‘We don’t want Elsie forgotten’
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She said her daughter “remembers the attack vividly” and later told her “she thought it had to be fake, because she couldn’t believe something that terrible could really be happening”.
“Where she was once eager to go off with her friends, she now needs my support if it is somewhere public or unknown,” she said.
“Simple days out now need a level of safety planning that we would never have considered before.”
‘Constant flashbacks’
The mother of a girl referred to as Q, who escaped without being physically injured, told how she arrived to collect her daughter to find “children running from the building, screaming and fearing for their lives”.
In a statement read to the inquiry by a legal representative on her behalf, she said it was “the most horrific experience of my life”.
“What I saw on that day will stick with me forever, I constantly have flashbacks and relive what happened,” she said.
She said her daughter has become “very withdrawn” since the attack and has asked her parents, “How will I ever be normal again?”
Rudakubana was jailed for a minimum of 52 years in January and is being investigated over an alleged attack on a prison officer at Belmarsh prison in May.
The public inquiry, announced by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in January, is looking into whether the attack could or should have been prevented, given what was known about the killer.
Rudakubana, who was born in Cardiff, had contact with police, the courts, the youth justice system, social services and mental health services, and was referred to the government’s anti-extremism Prevent scheme three times before the murders.
A rapid review into his contact with Prevent found his case should have been kept open and that he should have been referred to Channel, another anti-terror scheme.
C1’s mother said: “She deserves the truth, she deserves accountability. She deserves an apology. Our girls deserve an apology.
“Backed up by the promise that changes will be made and this will not be allowed to happen again.”
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