91Èȱ¬

A lorry driver who took a tight turn into a petrol station forecourt and ran over and killed a homeless woman who was asleep on the pavement has been jailed.

Alec Keiran, 52, said he mistook Nicole Cummings for a "bin bag and a folded duvet" when he mounted his Volvo truck on the the kerb in Everton, Liverpool, on 10 August last year, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Ms Cummings, 24, was sleeping rough outside the Shell garage on Scotland Road, when the back wheel of the truck caused her fatal injuries.

Keiran, of Bamber Bridge, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving and was sentenced to one year in prison.

He told the court he would not have attempted the manoeuvre if he had known Ms Cummings was lying there.

Keiran was delivering to the Spar shop in the garage and turning on to the forecourt from Wilbraham Street, a narrow, single lane road, the CPS said.

To complete the turn and avoid a car which was parked opposite the forecourt entrance, the rear wheels of the lorry cut across the pavement.

A driver nearby saw Ms Cummings lying there as he noticed Keiran starting to reverse and sounded his horn.

He then ran from his car and told Keiran what had happened.

The court heard a customer earlier that day had given Ms Cummings a sandwich and a drink and advised her to move but she went back to sleep.

When the police arrived, Keiran was waiting in a back room at the garage and was described as "clearly in shock, very upset and apologetic".

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Nicole's father said she had been troubled but was planning to make changes to her life.

"Nicole was a wonderful person who was loved dearly by her family, we think about her with sadness every day," he said.

"We miss her sense of humour, her laugh and her huge presence.

"I was told she was writing a story on her life and how she was going to overcome her struggles and have a life worth living."

He said the family "grieved doubly" for her, adding: "Firstly, we grieve the hole her death has left us with, and secondly, we grieve the future that was taken from her."

At his sentencing on Thursday, the Judge accepted Keiran was "extremely and genuinely remorseful" but said an immediate prison term was the only appropriate sentence.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Natassia McAdam, said Keiran's driving "fell below the standard expected".

"No doubt he will live with the consequences of that day for the rest of his life," she said.

"The family of his victim will live with this too."

Keiran was also issued with a 12-month driving ban to start upon his release.

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