A woman who caused fatal injuries to a motorcyclist and then briefly left the scene to inspect the damage to her car has avoided a prison sentence.
Wendy Leung struck grandfather Colin Milton, 53, before driving a mile to motorway services with the window of her BMW cracked and the bonnet damaged.
Leung then returned to the scene of the collision and accepted full responsibility for the tragedy.
She was made the subject of a community order, ordered to do 300 hours unpaid work and banned from driving for two years after pleading guilty to causing death by careless driving at Leeds Crown Court yesterday.
Leung, a stock taker for ASDA, wept in the dock as the details of the incident were told to the court.
Jonathan Sharp, prosecuting, said the two vehicles struck head on when Leung pulled out in front of Mr Milton at the junction of Knottingley Road and Pontefract Road, Knottingley, at 5.30am on January 26 last year.
He suffered fatal head injuries after being thrown from the bike and struck the car’s windscreen before making contact with the road surface.
Leung, of Weeland Court, Knottingley, then drove to Ferrybridge services and was seen on CCTV inspecting the damage to the car but returned within minutes, before the arrival of emergency services
The court heard Mr Milton was hugely popular and well liked. Mr Sharp said one of his friends had remarked of his funeral that the last time crowds that large were seen in Knottingley was when there was a royal visit in the 1930s.
Matthew Paul, for Leung, said: “No blame whatsoever is attached to the victim in this case.
“From the moment Miss Leung returned to the scene of the incident she immediately accepted responsibility and immediately made it clear she was to blame for the accident.
“She has the most intense feelings of remorse for what she has done and strong feelings of empathy for those who have lost a loved one.”
Judge James Spencer QC told Leung that the fact she immediately failed to stop after the collision aggravated her case.