A MAN has been cleared of causing the death of a 77-year-old woman by careless driving after colliding with her as she crossed a dual carriageway.

It took a jury just over an hour to acquit ex-McDonald’s manager Jonathan Regan, 34, of being responsible for killing Pamela Blatchly in Newport.

The defendant had denied the charge and was found not guilty following a five-day trial.

South Wales Argus:

Pamela Blatchly

Mrs Blatchly died nearly two years ago after she was struck by Mr Regan’s Volkswagen Fox car on the A48 in Castleton near the turning to Cefn Mably.

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She had been crossing the road after shopping at the nearby Esso garage and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Regan maintained the crash was an accident and that he only had a “split second” to react after he saw her.

He sobbed when giving evidence in his defence at Newport Crown Court and said: “There was nothing I could have done to avoid colliding with her.”

In his closing speech to the jury, Mr Regan’s barrister Ieuan Bennett told them: “From nowhere he saw the lady in the road.

“Tragically, there was simply no time for him to stop.”

The defendant had been on his way to the Cardiff Golf Centre driving range to meet a friend on the afternoon of September 24, 2019, when he hit Mrs Blatchly.

The prosecution unsuccessfully claimed Mr Regan was responsible for her death because he wasn’t paying enough attention to the road.

Following his acquittal, the defendant, of Myrtle Drive, Rogerstone, Newport, now a Great Western Railway train manager, was told by Judge Catherine Richards: “Mr Regan, you can leave the dock and you can leave the court.”

Turning to the jury before she discharged them, Judge Richards said to them: “I want to thank you very much for the careful attention you have given this case.

“It is never easy sitting in judgement of your fellow citizens.”

She asked prosecutor James Wilson to pass her condolences on to Mrs Blatchly’s family.

Judge Richards added: “She seemed a very kind and generous person.”