Driver cleared of killing Holyrood Palace art designer

A LORRY driver has been acquitted of killing a renowned art designer '“ who worked on projects in the Capital '“ by his careless driving.

Moira Gemmill

Moira Gemmill, 55, was cycling to work at St James’s Palace when she was struck by a Mercedes tipper lorry near Lambeth Bridge in Westminster on April 9, 2015.

Harrowing footage played to jurors showed the moment the lorry, driven by James Kwatia, pulled away from the bridge on to a roundabout approaching Horseferry Road, before crushing Ms Gemmill beneath its wheels.

Off-duty police and paramedics tried to save her, but Ms Gemmill was declared dead at the scene.

Prosecutor Mark Gadsden alleged that the 43-year-old lorry driver had failed to use his mirrors properly and paid insufficient attention to cyclists as he reached the end of the bridge.

But Kwatia, from Catford, south-east London, denied causing death by careless driving and was found not guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey on Friday.

Ms Gemmill, who formerly worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum, had just started a new job as director of capital programmes at the Royal Collection Trust, working on projects at Windsor Castle and at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh.