Soft toy 'stopped driver seeing woman in road'

Pedestrian, 85, died after being struck by car

- AMY WALKER

A DRIVER who claimed his view was obscured by a 'soft toy' and an air freshener hanging from his rear view mirror before he killed a woman in a horror crash said his 'whole world collapsed' when he realised what he had done.

Christopher Hardy, 65, hit Maria Clayton as he turned left at a junction in Mossley, Tameside. Ms Clayton, 85, had been shopping and was walking across the road when Hardy failed to 'look in the direction he was travelling' and had his view blocked by a 'soft toy and an air freshener' hanging from his rear view mirror.

Ms Clayton was hit by Hardy's Nissan Juke and driven over, suffering multiple injuries. She died 13 days later in hospital on Boxing Day.

Hardy, from Mossley, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing death by careless driving. He was handed a suspended sentence, with a judge calling the case 'tragic!