Billy Stokoe, 19, was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison for causing the death of Gloria Stephenson by dangerous driving. He was caught on video looking down at the injured woman before speeding off to hide his bike.
This is the moment a teenager riding an e-bike while high on cannabis knocked down and killed an 86-year-old woman on a zebra crossing. There were gasps of shock in the public gallery as Billy Stokoe was jailed for six years and nine months for causing the death of Gloria Stephenson while taking her daily 10,000 steps along with her daughter's dog.
The judge explained Stokoe, 19, would spend half that period in custody - a total of three years and four and a half months. He had ridden for half a mile with the left-side brake on his Sur-Ron e-bike broken and his mobile phone in his left hand, Newcastle Crown Court heard. Sickening video footage from the scene, played in court, shows Stokoe collide with Gloria and then fall from his bike.
With a callous disregard for her plight, he first retrieved the bike and rode back to look down at Mrs Stephenson before speeding off to hide the machine at his friend's home. The footage shows the pensioner lying motionless on the ground, while her small leaping around in distress. Billy Stokoe, 19, killed 86-year-old Gloria Stephenson when he ploughed into her on his e-bike at a zebra crossing. Stokoe has been jailed for six years and nine months.
Gloria Stephenson was out walking her daughter's dog. He handed himself in at a police station just over an hour later. The teenager was jailed for six years and nine months after he admitted causing death by dangerous driving. Judge Robert Adams said Mrs Stephenson was a vulnerable road user on a pedestrian crossing who had waited for traffic to stop for her and the dog.
Stokoe was also disqualified from driving for more than eight years. Mrs Stephenson's said they were 'incandescent with rage' after learning he will serve less than three and a half years in jail. After the hearing, Julie Francis, the eldest daughter of retired Hospital Domestic Services Manager Mrs Stephenson, said: 'It is absolutely disgusting and we are incandescent with rage.
'How can it possibly be justice when he will serve three years in prison for taking the life of our mother? It's appalling.
'The judge said that he felt Stokoe had shown remorse but we know differently. He applied for a change to his bail days after he killed our mother so that he could go to Wembley to watch Sunderland. Stokoe paced up and down the road with his hands to his head after going back to look at Mrs Stephenson lying on the road. He sobbed after handing himself in to police.
'He was posting messages on social media looking for tickets to a Halloween party. That shows no remorse or thought for our mother or our family.
'We simply can't believe what has happened here today, it is dreadful. ' On the day of the accident, May 16th last year, Stokoe's judgement was impaired by the cannabis he had been smoking and he was unable to brake on the unroadworthy Sur-ron E-bike he had bought from a friend who advertised it for sale on Facebook.
The bike only had a working back brake, operated by the left brake lever which Stokoe could not use because he had his phone in his hand and was looking at it when he ploughed into Mrs Stephenson. He didn't see her until he had hit her, making no attempt to take evasive action ahead of the crossing on Burdon Road, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, in bright daylight at 1pm.
The Sur-ron bike was defective, with the front brake missing entirely and many of its functions disabled. An examiner said 'it would have been clear to a careful and competent rider that the vehicle was not safe to be used on a road.
' Judge Adams said the phone in his hand 'was not a momentary distraction' and that Stokoe had it in his hand for half a mile. He said: 'He never saw Mrs Stephens, so distracted was he by the phone he was carrying. He used it and was distracted by it for a relatively long period.
'It was obviously a highly dangerous manoeuvre to use the phone when it meant he had no means of stopping the bike by braking. 'It is difficult to determine the level of impairment from the use of drink or drugs, but this impairment was an aggravating factor. ' He also banned Stokoe from driving for eight years and four months, at which point he will have to sit an extended driving test
Billy Stokoe Sur-Ron E-Bike Cannabis Dangerous Driving Gloria Stephenson Burdon Road Sunderland Tine And Wear ADHD Cannabis Use Phone Use Driving Ban Extended Driving Test
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