An Ashford driver who knocked down and fatally injured a 70-year-old man must accept his conviction for causing death by careless driving, top judges have ruled.

Ronald Lynch, 57, pulled out of a car park in Beaver Road, South Ashford, and hit Maidstone pensioner Michael Donnelly in 2012. Both men had just been dropped off after a coach trip to Belgium.

Lynch, previously of Beaver Lane, was given a non-custodial sentence and ordered to do 200 hours’ unpaid work at Canterbury Crown Court, in November, 2013, after he was convicted of causing death by careless driving.

Three senior judges at London’s Criminal Appeal Court have now rejected a conviction challenge by Lynch, saying the jury was perfectly entitled to find him guilty.

Lynch and Mr Donnelly – of Whitfield Road, South Ashford – had been dropped off in front of Marino’s chip shop on Beaver Road on the icy evening of December 1, 2012. They were in a group which had gone to Belgium on a Christmas coach trip.

"The last thing on his [Lynch’s] mind that night was doing any harm to Mr Donnelly” - Judge James O’Mahony

At about 8.30pm, Lynch drove his Vauxhall Cavalier out of a car park beside the Beaver Inn and initially stopped close to where Mr Donnelly was crossing the road, before knocking him down. The car then reversed over the pensioner.

Mr Donnelly was rushed to William Harvey Hospital before being transferred to King’s College Hospital in London, but died within a fortnight as a result of serious head and chest injuries.

Lynch said he had not seen the pensioner, believing he had driven over some rubbish and backed up to “remove” it before spotting his victim lying in the road.

Alongside his community-based sentence, Lynch was also disqualified from driving for 18 months.

On sentencing him, Judge James O’Mahony said it was not known exactly why the accident happened but added it was “certain” that “the last thing on his [Lynch’s] mind that night was doing any harm to Mr Donnelly”.

Applying to appeal, Lynch’s barrister, Richard Clews, argued that the jury’s verdict flew in the face of expert evidence both for the defence and the prosecution.

He said the experts’ reports showed the accident simply “could not have happened” in the way described by an eye-witness, on whose evidence the jury convicted.

The barrister sought to cite another expert report and argued that the conviction should be overturned on the strength of its contents.

But Mr Justice King, sitting with Lord Justice Treacy and Mrs Justice Elisabeth Laing, said: “The jury was not obliged to accept the expert evidence and they were not obliged to accept the evidence of the eye-witness.

“Whether they should accept her evidence was a matter for them.

“There was nothing in the direction given by the judge [to the jury] which suggests Lynch had anything other than a fair trial and the direction on how to approach the expert evidence was impeccable.

“For these reasons, this application [to appeal] is refused.”

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