Midlothian woman, 58, banned from road for careless driving which killed pensioner as she walked home from shop

A cleaner who knocked down a grandmother who was making her way home from a shopping trip has admitted causing death by careless driving.

Sylvia Conkey, 58, crashed into elderly Margaret McKenzie while driving her gold Suzuki Jimny in Easthouses, Midlothian, last year.

The tragic pensioner was walking home from her local store when she suffered catastrophic injuries to her torso after being struck by Conkey’s vehicle.

Two motorists and passing police officers pulled over to help the OAP who was said to be “conscious and breathing” as she lay injured in the middle of the road.

Sylvia Conkey admitted causing death by careless driving.

But Mrs McKenzie, 80, died after suffering a cardiac arrest as paramedics attempted to give her lifesaving treatment following the accident at around 1.30pm on March 15 last year.

Conkey, from Easthouses, has now been banned from the road after she admitted a charge of causing death by careless driving during an appearance in the dock at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday.

‘I never saw her’

Fiscal depute John Adams told the court Mrs McKenzie had just left her local shop and was crossing the road near to her home at Easthouses Road.

She had made her way to a traffic island in the middle of the road and as she crossed over she was struck by Conkey’s car as it turned into the street from the B6482.

The vehicle crashed into the five foot one inch tall pensioner leaving “a large dent to the bonnet” and a cracked bumper and Conkey was said to have stopped around 20 metres from the scene.

The distraught driver, who was described as a cleaner and who lives near to the accident scene with her partner, told witnesses: “I never saw her. She just walked out in front of me.”

Mr Adams said: “Paramedics arrived and it was clear to them Mrs McKenzie had stopped breathing and despite lifesaving treatment Mrs McKenzie succumbed to her injuries.

“A post mortem was carried out and it was determined Mrs McKenzie had suffered a cardiac arrest at the locus leading to her death.

“The cause of death was certified as torso injuries.”

The fiscal said the weather had been “fair but changeable” and there had been “high speed winds” and “heavy rain” at the time of the collision.

He added the vehicle was examined and found to have “no defects” and that Conkey’s phone had “not been in use at time of the collision”.

The court was told Mrs McKenzie was a widow who had lived at the same address in Easthouses for 50 years.

The depute added Mrs McKenzie had been diagnosed with “progressive moderate dementia” in December 2017 but there had been “no significant decline to carry out normal activities”.

Sheriff Alistair Noble said: “This is obviously a tragic case that had serious consequences and what I propose to do is call for criminal justice reports.

“It is a case in which disqualification is mandatory and I propose to disqualify you from driving ad interim from today.”

Sentence was deferred to next month for the preparation of the social work reports.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

Subscribe to the Edinburgh Evening News online and enjoy unlimited access to trusted, fact-checked news and sport from Edinburgh and the Lothians. Visit https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director