A grandmother who killed an elderly woman when she reversed over her at speed at Bluewater is facing sentence.

Dawn Chedd denied causing the death of 71-year-old Claire Bishop by careless driving, but a jury of seven men and five women took less than 30 minutes to convict her today.

Sentence was adjourned for reports until July 15.

Maidstone Crown Court heard how Chedd, of Cranleigh Drive, Swanley, lost control of her automatic people carrier while parking at the Greenhithe shopping centre on January 4 last year.

The victim and her husband Roy, from Bexleyheath, were walking back to their car in the afternoon when the tragedy happened.

Chedd, a retired child minder, claimed in evidence she had no memory of what happened.

She said she could only recall going to Bluewater about a job with a friend's two-year-old daughter in the back of her Vauxhall Zafira.

But witnesses told how the car shot out of a parking bay in an arc with tyres screeching at about 20mph and struck three cars before mowing down Mrs Bishop.

Her horrified husband saw the car just as it was about to hit his wife. She was left half underneath and bleeding from her head.

The Zafira ended up on the front of a car that was parked in same row of bays. It was still in reverse gear with the engine running.

Chedd, 50-year-old wife of a retired police officer, was found lying injured between two of the cars that had been hit. The driver's door was open. The child in the car was uninjured.

Mrs Bishop was taken, critically injured, to London's King's College Hospital. She died five days later on January 9.

Witness Nigel Holmes said the people carrier’s engine was revving so fast before it crashed he thought it was a "boy racer".

The prosecutor said the car was not found to have any faults and a collision investigator believed Chedd must have attempted to stop it by putting her foot on the brake but caught the accelerator instead.

Adjourning sentence for reports, Judge Charles Byers said: "It is a difficult moment for all concerned."

After the verdict, Mrs Bishop's family paid tribute to "a loving wife, mum and nana".

They said in a statement: "She is dearly missed by her family and her many friends, who she loved to have around her."

PC Glen Braidwood, of the Kent Police Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: "This was an extremely tragic case in which a number of errors led to an innocent bystander losing her life.

"She is dearly missed by her family and her many friends, who she loved to have around her..." - Claire Bishop's family

"It underlines the importance of driving with due care and attention at all times - not just when behind the wheel but when entering or exiting a vehicle.

"We will never know why Chedd did not use her handbrake or why she left the gearbox engaged in reverse. Losing focus for just a second led to a catastrophic series of events in which Mrs Bishop died and Chedd was left injured.

"That momentary error has had an immeasurable impact on a number of lives, Chedd's included.

"I’d like to praise Mrs Bishop’s family for their strength and courage in reliving those terrible events and speak for all of Kent Police when I say that our thoughts are with them as they try to come to terms with this tragedy.

"I hope today's result can bring them a measure of closure as they try to move on with their lives without Claire."