Words can't express the guilt and remorse I am feeling

DRIVER'S WORDS TO FAMILY AFTER HE STRUCK WOMAN IN FATAL AUDI COLLISION

- CHRIS SLATER

A MAN who struck a woman who died 'didn't know what had happened' and 'panicked' when he drove off and ran a red light, a court has heard.

There were tears in both the dock and the public gallery as Rashid Javed apologised directly to the family of Michelle Barlow. Javed, 38, struck pedestrian Ms Barlow, 41, as she crossed Chester Road, near the Tesco superstore in Stretford, last summer.

She was knocked into the opposing carriageway where she was hit by a second car. That vehicle, a Mercedes 220, stopped at the scene afterwards. However the Audi A8 being driven by Javed did not, a court was told.

He went through a red traffic light as he drove away, just after the collision at 10.13pm on July 22 last year.

"He returned to the scene 33 minutes in a different vehicle," prosecutor Hannah Nicholls told Manchester Magistrates Court.

Ms Barlow was crossing the road and had 'come to a stop on the edge of lane two' when she was struck by Javed, travelling eastbound towards Manchester city centre, Ms Nicholls said.

Ms Barlow was then 'projected into lane two' of the opposite carriageway, 'directly into the path of the Mercedes' Members of the public rushed to Ms Barlow's aid and began giving her CPR before the emergency services arrived. Sadly her injuries were 'unsurvivable' and she was declared dead in hospital around an hour later.