A WOMAN has pleaded guilty to causing the death of an elderly motorcyclist who was killed when she made a right turn into his path as he was riding along the Fosse Way.
But Susan Dancer will still have to stand trial over 75-year-old Timothy Ramsay’s death – because she denies her driving at the time was dangerous.
The 36-year-old, of Dancers Drive, Loxley, near Warwick, pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court last year to causing the death of Mr Ramsay in August 2018 by dangerous driving.
At a pre-trial hearing prosecutor Matthew Brooke applied to add a second charge of causing the pensioner’s death by careless driving – to which Dancer pleaded guilty.
But Mr Brooke told the judge: “That will not resolve the matter, but makes it clearer to the jury what the issues are.”
The charges follow a tragic collision on the B4455 Fosse Way at the crossroads junction with Brook Lane and Moreton Morrell Lane at 9.45am on August 11 in 2018.
Mr Ramsay, from Leamington, was riding his Suzuki motorbike along the Fosse Way towards the junction when Dancer, driving a Citroen Relay van in the opposite direction, made a right turn into his path.
There was a collision in which Mr Ramsay suffered injuries from which he died in hospital later the same day.
The trial on the more serious charge is due to begin at the end of March, and is expected to last for three days, during which collision experts for the prosecution and the defence will be giving evidence.
But Mr Brooke said the issues to be addressed by the experts ‘have been narrowed.’
Judge Anthony Potter adjourned the case for trial, and Dancer was granted unconditional bail until then.
