BYSTANDERS used a makeshift mat and umbrellas to keep a pensioner dry after she was hit by a car, a court heard.‬

‪Penny Bains was struck by a Ford C-Max driven by a retired doctor and neighbour, Roger Williams, and thrown to the ground while using a pedestrian crossing on Main Street in Brampton.‬

‪The collision, just before 5.30pm on December 20, 2018, occurred in darkness and in wet conditions. It was described by the passenger of another car as “horrible”.‬

‪Ms Bains, 72, was taken to ‬hospital but died on December 29 from complications arising from injuries which included a broken leg.

Mr Williams, aged 71 and from Hethersgill, near Brampton, is on trial at Carlisle Crown Court. He denies causing Ms Bains’ death by careless driving and told police after the collision: “I just didn’t see her.”

‪Passing motorist Robert Stinger saw the tragedy unfold and stopped to help. “I went to get some umbrellas from the newsagents,” he told the jury. Cardboard was also used in a bid to keep conscious Ms Bains off the ground and clear of surface water.‬

CCTV footage from a nearby takeaway was played to jurors showing Mr Williams’ car travelling past and brake with a traffic light showing red — then red and amber — before the brake was released as it turned green.

A collision investigation report produced by two experts acknowledged that Mr Williams had referred to “two children walking along the footpath towards the crossing as he approached it”.

‪“Although we are unable to identify any children in the CCTV footage, the footage is limited both in terms of its length and view,” their joint report stated. “We are therefore unable to validate or otherwise Dr Williams’ perception of children approaching the crossing.”‬

‪Mr Stinger had been asked by Williams’ lawyer, Mark Shepherd, whether he saw any other pedestrians.‬

‪“Not at the lights there weren’t, that I can recall,” he replied.‬

‪Opening the case to jurors, prosecutor Charles Brown had said to jurors: “An old lady who was doing no harm to anyone was killed while crossing the road while being hit by a car; a retired doctor of exemplary character has suffered the shock and the trauma of being the driver of that car which collided with her and caused her death.‬

‪“You may well feel sympathy for her and for her relatives or indeed for Dr Williams. There are no winners in a case like this.‬

‪“You may think ‘it could have been me or my loved one crossing the road’; you may think ‘it could have me or one of my family driving that car’. You may have sympathy for one or both.‬

‪“Sympathy is a great human quality but it is not a quality you should use to judge this case. You should judge the case objectively.”‬

‪Mr Williams disputes that he drove without due care and attention, and the trial continues.‬