Woman who drove van into house convicted over pensioner's death

A motorist who crashed a van into a house, killing a 90-year-old woman as she sat in her front room speaking on the phone, has been convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.

Tracy Bibby, 35, was banned from driving at the time she drove the Ford Transit into the home of Joan Woodier in Clevedon, Somerset. Estimated to have been travelling at up to 40mph, the van was left embedded in the front wall of the house, which partially collapsed on Woodier as she spoke to her son on the phone.

Bibby, from Clevedon, denied causing death by dangerous driving but was convicted after a trial at Bristol crown court. She was also convicted of causing death by driving while disqualified. She will be sentenced on Friday.

Tracy Bibby, who had denied she was driving the van at the time of the crash.Photograph: Avon and Somerset Police/PA

Bibby had been at the Crab Apple pub moments before the incident at about 8.30pm on 18 April last year, the jury heard. The pub’s CCTV captured her getting into the van on the driver’s side, but Bibby claimed to have switched places with one of the other three passengers in the vehicle after driving away from the pub and that she was not responsible for the crash.

Bibby told a police officer at the scene: “I swear to you I wasn’t driving. I can’t drive. I’m not allowed to drive.”

A police forensic collision investigator concluded the van hit the house at between 32mph and 40mph. The speed limit on the road is 30mph.

Tony Hall, a collision investigation officer, said: “Bibby has consistently refused to take responsibility for her reckless actions that night, which tragically resulted in the death of Mrs Woodier. She sought to blame someone else even though all the evidence pointed to her being the one behind the wheel.”