Woman is cleared of causing death by careless driving

Retrial following A4 tragedy

A WOMAN has been cleared of causing death by careless driving following a retrial.

Kayleigh Field, a 24-year-old mother of two from Thatcham, spun into oncoming traffic after hitting floodwater on the A4 near Marsh Benham on February 26, 2014.

Ms Field, a delicatessen counter assistant at a local Tesco store and a former Kennet School pupil, denied causing the death of 69-year-old Anne Joyce Deeks, also from Thatcham, by careless driving. It was the second time she had stood trial on the charge.

Jurors at the initial hearing at Reading Crown Court in September last year were unable to reach a verdict and a new trial began on Monday, March 14. Ms Deeks died at the scene while Ms Field was airlifted, along with her unharmed child, to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

She remained there for two weeks while she was treated for injuries including collapsed lungs and broken bones in her leg and pelvis.

In the original trial Ms Field said her memory was “hazy” and added: “I remember the sun glinting on the water. The next thing I remember was waking up with my nose bleeding and someone telling me to keep my head still.”

Ms Field said the accident ended her hopes of taking part in competetive show-jumping because of the steel pin holding her leg bones together.

Her friend from school days, businesswoman Francesca Vigliotti, described Ms Field as “a woman of high integrity and honesty” and a “cautious driver” to whom she entrusted her own child.

After the four-day retrial, jurors deliberated for just over 10 hours before finding Ms Field not guilty.