Auriol Grey conviction overturned

[Icantpossibly]

The original decision split opinion and I have no doubt today’s one will do the same.
I saw the report in The Independent online.
Aplogies if this duplicates another post. I looked and couldn’t see one

There are a few occasions where either on paths or pavements a cyclist has ridden at speed towards me and hasn’t dismounted. You’re expected to get out of their way.

In fact yesterday after walking along a path with a sort of stepped edge I fell slightly and cut my knee badly. This was after trying to avoid 2 cyclists and a couple of buggies. But I wouldn’t swear and shout and try to push the cyclists off their bikes because that’s not acceptable behaviour.

I doubt if Auriol even realised her behaviour was assault, she simply was fed up of cyclists on that path. Also, she’s very petite, maybe 5ft, though fairly well built, so maybe more so than a person of normal height, she was concerned about being run over by the bike ridden by Mrs Ward.

I think that's ridiculous. A gesture is very different to a punch! Anyone throwing a punch is aware they will cause harm. And if the person they've punched would have knocked them over otherwise, it also becomes a completely different action. Context is everything. Grey was frightened by a dangerous pavement/cycle path and she was right to be. She could not have known that her gesture would cause a death, even if she was without disabilities. This is not remotely like someone who needs to be locked up because we don't know who they'll punch next. Posters like you make me think twice about democracy.

Shouting and swearing at the cyclist and waving her arm at her, making contact.... hardly just a 'gesture.' It's pretty obvious those actions led directly to the cyclist swerving off the kerb and under the wheels of a car

I think as she has cerebral palsy she was frightened about the cyclist hitting her. The arm waving may have been disjointed as she has cerebral palsy and does not have full control of her body. She is really a very vulnerable person.

I’m not convinced she was frightened. If she was frightened why did she move towards the cyclist? I think she was angry because she didn’t know it was a shared path, she thought the cyclist was doing something wrong.

.

There could’ve been a mixture of frightened and angry.

This is a woman, don’t forget, who from media articles, doesn’t have many friends but was described in a positive way by someone who lived near/in the same block of flats as her.

Her mother and sister don’t appear to have been close to her. I think her mother seems to have been embarrassed by her as she’s thrown money at trying to “fix” her. Her BIL at least since her sister’s death has helped out Auriol, maybe concerned it’d reflect badly on him.

Mrs Ward on the other hand appeared be a fit and healthy 77 year old woman, able to ride a bicycle into town to do shopping and run errands. I bet Auriol would’ve loved to have been able to do what Mrs Ward has done but will never be able to do this.

To be honest it's irrelevant whether Grey would have wanted to be able to ride a bike. Yes she is disabled but so are many thousands of people who would never in a million years done what she did.

I have no idea whether her mother was embarrassed by her, I don't know her.

It's quite possible that Grey had suffered insults due to her disability which is shameful but none of this excuses what she did.

I understand why she has been released; she shouldn't have been convicted of manslaughter without the base charge of assault. She didn't have a very long jail term anyway so would likely have been released soon.

None of this changes the fact that she was directly responsible for causing the cyclist to be killed, I can't see how anyone can honestly believe the cyclist would have fallen into the path of a car without Grey's aggressive actions.

I was also shocked to read upthread that the poor car driver suffers from PTSD and her marriage broke down as a result of the trauma of this incident.

The consequences of Greys actions are far reaching and devastating.

Waving your arm is a gesture.

No one is disputing her actions led to a death. It doesn't necessarily follow that she is guilty of a crime.

preferable to a secure hospital.

Er, you can't just send someone to a secure hospital. It isn't quite that simple.

What if that had been a young teenager she pushed into the road,

What point are you making? That it would have been so much worse had the person been younger? Why, exactly? This was a tragic and unnecessary death - should we be awarding points based on some kind of scale of importance?

Did they though, her actions alone? The woman who fell off her bike into traffic was wobbly on a bike and cycling where there were also pedestrians. I'm not sure you can say it was purely down to the actions of Auriol Gray. I think both contributed. It's a very sad case all round.

Watch the video of the incident and the police interview. It's distressing stuff but very clear.

The hardworking Midwife will never be able to ride a bike or be with her husband again.
Grey's aggressive actions robbed her of that.

No one can deny that had the Midwife not had the misfortune to encounter an enraged woman on a pavement, she would still be alive today.

This. Whether Grey will ever fully comprehend the implications of her actions is debatable, I suppose, but the repercussions for both the family of the lady who died and the car driver can only be imagined.

I'm not quite sure how someone earlier on has deduced that the lady was 'wobbly' on her bike, either - was there earlier camera footage of this? I can't recall it. Of course the lady's bike might have 'wobbled' immediately before the accident, as she was probably shocked when Grey shouted and gestured.

Why repeatedly refer to her as a hardworking Midwife/Midwife? She was 77; was she still working as a midwife? That choice of language and referring to Auriol Grey by her surname is designed to be emotive.

Auriol Grey has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, right sided physical weakness, significantly impaired vision in both eyes, a degree of cognitive impairment and has a lower leg brace. She is a disabled, vulnerable person.

It doesn't make any difference whether she's referred to by her first or last name, Auriol Grey was clearly aggressively swearing and shouting at the cyclist and then flung her arm towards them causing them to swerve into the path of a car. She is a disabled person whose aggressive actions led to an elderly person's death. Those facts are not mutually exclusive! It's perfectly possibly to be disabled and vulnerable and also behave in a callous way.

If you watch the video of the incident, it's clear what happened. Very distressing to watch but shows the actions.

The police interview is an eye opener too- lots of lies and 'forgetting' and 'don't knowing.'

I suspect Auriol Grey would have been released soon anyway, her jail sentence wasn't that long. And the thing about not having been charged with assault is a technicality which led to her being freed now. The real issue though is that she's not some innocent person, she caused someone's death.

Some things are tragic accidents. She is innocent of any crime.

She is not guilty.

It's a bit like that stuff I heard on the radio last night about "floating bus stops". Some of these arrangements that mix pedestrians and cyclists have risks that don't seem to have been considered.

Innocent - the appeal court judges made it very clear no crime was committed, not that the prosecution couldn't prove for sure that she committed the crime: there was no crime.

and referring to Auriol Grey by her surname is designed to be emotive.

Please get over yourself - is that all you could find to pick on? And you don't think using language like 'designed to be emotive' isn't also designed to be emotive?* *For goodness sake what does it matter if some posters referred to her as 'Grey'? Posters were referring to Katie Price as 'Price' on a previous thread, and have referred to celebrities by their surnames on another previous thread and nobody had palpitations over any of that.

Why not refer to her as a Midwife? I don't know this - perhaps you do orperhaps not and you are just assuming - but she might have still been doing some work as a midwife - do you know for certain she wasn't or is it because of her age you've deduced this? Whatever, as a Midwife she had done valuable work in the community and I find your dismissive attitude towards a woman who died tragically and unnecessarily speaks volumes about you.

I watched the video of the police interview with Grey. She certainly knew how to be evasive when questioned.

Agreed.
Grey caused someone’s death by her aggressive actions.

She is without a moral conscience, the self serving lies and arrogance of callously leaving her victim dying in the road.
A victim who would likely have still been alive had she not had the misfortune to have encountered an “ Aggressively territorial”
Grey on that day.

Grey has ruined two families’ lives.

Inexcusable behaviour.

Agreed.
The mistake made by the prosecution and the result of the appeal are very disappointing. Grey had already served most of the time she was likely to. She'd have been out in another six months anyway, wouldn't she? This result is not in her best interests as now she'll have no chance of ever learning right from wrong. She is likely to repeat these aggressive behaviours until something tragic happens again.