An elderly man ran over and killed one of his wife's closest friends after mistaking his accelerator for his brake. Henry Booth, 78, has been spared jail after the 83-year-old victim's family claimed they bore "no malice" towards him.
Booth, of Edge Lane, Droylsden, had been attempting to park his Ford B Max car outside The Haddon Hall pub on October 21 last year, when it suddenly rolled forward. He tried to bring the car to a stop but instead it sped up and ploughed into his wife Joan and two family friends who were walking into the pub - including Barbara Daniels.
Mrs Daniels, 83, died at the scene. Mrs Booth, who is in her 70s sustained a pelvic fracture, while the other friend - Rita Robinson - suffered a fracture to her left shoulder and a small fracture to her back.
