Woman jailed for fatal wrong-way M57 crash

Anne Marie Crook was jailed for more than four years

A woman who drove the wrong way on a motorway before crashing into and killing another driver has been jailed.

Retired head teacher Paula Kingdon, 64, died in hospital after her car was hit on the M57 in Merseyside in 2019.

Anne Marie Crook, 43, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for four years and eight months at Liverpool Crown Court.

Prosecutor Chris Hopkins said "the only sensible inference is that she was intending to harm herself" at the time.

The court heard Crook drove the wrong way down the slip road at junction 5 of the M57 near Liverpool on 31 October 2019.

Judge Garrett Byrne said she did not brake and evidence "supports the contention that you were trying to end your own life".

Crook said she could not remember the crash in which she was also seriously injured.

Paula Kingdon was described as a "caring auntie and devoted teacher"

Passing sentence, Judge Byrne told Crook that Ms Kingdon "had devoted her life to helping others and was enjoying her retirement when you caused her death by your senseless actions".

"Although you may not have specifically intended to harm anyone else, you must have realised at the time that your driving was bound to cause somebody really serious harm, if not their death," he said.

Sarah Griffin, defending, referred to a letter that Crook had written to the judge.

In it, she wrote: "I thoroughly deserve any sentence you see fit to pass on me. I deserve that."

Ms Griffin told the court: "She did not deliberately intend to harm another but it is accepted the inevitably of what occurred."

Ms Kingdon, who lived in Sheffield but regularly visited her stepfather in Liverpool following her mother's death, was described as having "made a real contribution" during her 40-year career as a school teacher and headmistress.

Insp Stuart McIver, from Merseyside Police, said: "I hope this long-awaited result will give Paula's family some sense of closure so they can remember her as the person they loved and cared for."