'I thought s**t I've hit someone', inquest told

A MOTORIST realised he'd knocked down a pensioner when he heard a “metallic bang” at the back of his car.

- BY AMY FENTON

Ewan McCrossan had been due to set off on a trip to Scotland with his son on the morning of Tuesday, August 1, in 2023 when he hit 81-year-old Diana Kemble.

Diana was walking the short distance to her daughter Nicola’s home in Clayton-le-Moors, to look after her dog Milo, on a “very rainy day”.

As Mr McCrossan started to move his car in single lane Chequers, to finish loading the luggage, he saw a “dark spot” on the edge of the reversing camera in his 2018 Citroen Cl.

“I thought maybe it was some dirt on the camera,” Mr McCrossan later told police.

“I heard a bang at the back of my car. It was almost like a metallic bang and I thought I had hit a car.

“I braked straightaway. When I put my foot on the brake my car stopped immediately. I put my handbrake on and turned off the engine.

“I looked in my rear view mirror and there was nothing there. I thought ‘s***, I've hit somebody.”

When Mr McCrossan got out of his car he saw mum-of-four Diana on the ground with her walking frame next to her.

“Then I realised who she was,” he told police. “I'd met her before. She was talking about the dog.”

Diana, who lived in Clayton-le-Moors but originally from Blackpool, remained conscious and when paramedics arrived she told them her left ankle was hurting. She also had an injury to the back of her head.