A motorist who said she suffered a dizzy spell at the wheel has been found guilty of causing the death of a Nottingham Trent University student Hope Starsmore by careless driving. Rebecca Porter, 34, hit the Toyota Yaris being driven by Hope, 20, after swerving violently onto the wrong side of the road on the A158 at Burgh le Marsh, near Skegness.
Hope, from Skegness, had just started a course in medical science and was making only her second trip to Nottingham Trent University. The undergraduate, who was travelling with her boyfriend and brother, was airlifted to hospital in Hull but died from her injuries a week after the collision on October 7, 2020.
A jury at Lincoln Crown Court cleared Porter of causing Hope's death by dangerous driving on Friday (April 21). But the eleven jurors returned a unanimous guilty verdict on the second charge of causing Hope's death by careless driving.
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Deputy circuit Judge Nigel Godsmark KC granted Porter bail for the preparation of a pre-sentence report. She will be sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court on June 9.
Judge Godsmark told Porter: "You will be back here on June 9. I am going to adjourn sentence on what I call an 'all options basis.' So I am making no promises about what the outcome will be."
Victim impact statements from Hope's family will also be read out at the sentence hearing. Judge Godsmark added: "I anticipate I will hear a little more about Hope and the effect her death has had."
Speaking after the verdicts Hope's parents Peter, 46, and Helen Starsmore, 47, said: "We are just happy to finally get justice for Hope. It has been such a long fight."
The jury heard Porter was driving a Ford Focus to her job as a teaching assistant in Skegness when she swerved violently around a van on the same side of the road which was indicating to turn right into a lay-by.
In her evidence Porter admitted to having a previous crash in May 2012 when she blacked out at the wheel, and suffering "two or three" dizzy spells in August 2020.
In his evidence the van driver described seeing Porter's head down and then suddenly raising up with a look of shock on her face.
At the scene, Porter, who had just dropped off her one-year-old son at nursery, complained of suffering a dizzy spell shortly before the collision and asked about the other driver.
And in her evidence Mrs Porter described a previous crash eight years earlier when she ended up in a ditch after blacking out at the wheel as drove home from university in Lincoln.
Louis Mably KC said Porter was left in a position where she either smashed into the back of the van or swerved violently into the oncoming carriageway and into Hope's path.
Both cars were sent spinning in opposite directions by the force of the collision. The jury heard Hope was travelling with her boyfriend, Ady, in the front passenger seat, and her brother, Hayden, in the back.
Mr Mably said Ady remembered seeing the van and then heard Hope say the words "What the?" In her evidence Porter told the jury: "It was such an every day drive to work."
"I'd driven past the garden centre then I started to feel a sudden spinning, a sudden dizziness," she added. "The next thing I know there is a car really close to me."
Porter was then asked by defence barrister, Andrew Vout KC, if she reacted to the dizziness? "I didn't have time to," Mrs Porter replied.
When she saw the van Mrs Porter said she immediately felt "fear".
"I just moved to the right to try and get out the way of this truck," Mrs Porter added. "I thought it was better than moving to the left if there was a pedestrian, it wasn't really a choice, it was an instinct."
"In that split second," Mrs Porter said she did not see another vehicle, but then saw a black car coming towards her.
Mrs Porter told Mr Vout that she had no memory of her head being down as described by the van driver. When questioned Mr Mably KC, Porter insisted: "I don't know if I blacked out or fainted, because I have no memory."
Porter admitted she had taken prescribed medication on the day of the collision but said she did not feel drowsy.
Under further questioning from Mr Mably, Porter denied any suggestion that she had looked at her mobile phone which was placed on the front passenger seat. "I would never do that," Porter said.
Porter admitted she had briefly stopped driving in August 2020, after having dizzy spells, but said she felt fine to drive by October. The only other occasion she had blacked out while driving was when her car went into a ditch near the village of Sausthorpe in May 2012, Porter agreed.
Mr Mably then suggested to Porter: "Your car remained under control at all times until that swerve?" "I don't know. I can only tell the truth," Porter replied.
Mr Mably then concluded his questioning by asking Mrs Porter: "Is the reality of this that you didn't black out at all, you didn't have your eyes on the road?" "That isn't what happened," Porter replied. "All I can do is tell the truth."
Porter, of Cottesmore Close, Skegness, denied causing the death of Hope Starsmore by dangerous driving on October 7, 2020, and a second charge of causing death by careless driving on the same date.
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