A YOUNG motorist has been jailed after he was found to have been driving at 20mph over the speed limit when he hit and fatally injured a woman who ran into the road.

Although pedestrian Vikki Tinkler, who had earlier left home in a highly emotional state, was said to have darted into the road, driver Daniel Rowland could have avoided her had he been obeying the 30mph limit.

Instead, Durham Crown Court heard that a police accident expert estimated his Volkswagen Bora was doing 54mph when Miss Tinkler ran from a bus shelter, onto Stephenson Way, Newton Aycliffe, shortly after 8.30pm on Friday, October 24, 2014.

The court heard that the 29-year-old mother appeared to stop just before the collision, but prosecutor Richard Bennett said an eye-witness believed it could have been deliberate, or she may have realised the car was about to hit her and, “froze”.

Mr Bennett said she suffered “catastrophic injuries”, and was rushed to The James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, where she failed to regain consciousness and was declared dead next day.

The court heard it was the third tragedy to befall her parents, Desmond and Lesley Tinkler, who lost eldest daughter, Donna, as a baby in 1980, and second eldest sister, 18-year-old Stacey Ann, following an overdose in June 2001.

Mr Bennett said the loss of Stacey Anne, particularly, had “a huge impact” on Vikki, who suffered depression and had self-harmed several times.

She was said to have been a frequent visitor to her sister’s grave at the cemetery in Stephenson Way.

On the evening of October 24, 2014, she had been drinking at her parents’ home, and, following a heated argument, ran from the house “emotional and upset” in a pink onesie.

Her concerned family rang the police and a search began almost immediately, centred on the cemetery.

Shortly before the accident the eye-witness, waiting outside the bus shelter, saw a police vehicle pass with blue lights flashing.

He told officers that, shortly afterwards, Miss Tinkler, who was crouched with her back against the wall in the shelter, jumped to her feet and ran, “at speed”, from the bus stop onto the road.

Mr Bennett said, based on the expert’s findings: “Because of his speed the defendant had no chance of avoiding her.

“Had he been travelling within the appropriate speed limit, his car could have stopped in time.”

Although he initially told police he thought he was driving at 30mph, when he was confronted with the evidence and speed calculations he accepted he must have been doing a much greater speed, conceding it was, “a stupid thing to do.”

The court heard Rowland, 21 at the time, and now aged 23, of Dalton Way, Newton Aycliffe, admitted causing death by careless driving, which was accepted by the prosecution at the last hearing, when the case was to have gone to trial.

His barrister, Martin Towers, said he was not “playing the system” but awaiting the conclusion of discussions between prosecution and defence accident experts.

Mr Towers said the defendant did still not believe he was going as fast as 54mph, but, “the defence is not in a position to contest that, and, to this day, he can’t say how fast he was travelling.”

Five character references were handed to the court on behalf of Rowland, by Mr Towers, who said the defendant is, “no insensitive brute”, as he, too, has been badly affected by the tragedy.

“He knows for the rest of his life his driving has caused someone’s death.”

The court was read statements by Miss Tinkler’s grieving parents and fiancé, who have struggled to try to come to terms with the latest tragedy in their lives.

Imposing a ten-month prison sentence, Judge Christopher Prince said the message had to go out that, “speed kills”.

The judge told Rowland: “In this case, you were speeding, and, in this case, it was your speed that killed, causing the death of Vikki Tinkler.”

He also imposed a 17-month driving disqualification on the defendant, who must pass an extended test to be allowed to legally drive again.