Man, 90 to be sentenced over car accident deaths

A 90-year-old driver who killed a couple when he accidentally reversed his car into them will be sentenced today.

Retired textiles merchant Philip Bull wrongly pressed the accelerator of his automatic transmission Ford Focus instead of the brake after dropping his wife off at a hospital.

The vehicle careered out of control into the path of Clare Haslam, 44, and Deborah Clifton, 49, who were both pronounced dead shortly after the incident at Withington Community Hospital on the afternoon of March 7.

Bull, who served in the Armed Forces, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and was said to be "hugely remorseful".

He went on to tell an author of a pre-sentence report:

Manchester Crown Court heard.

His barrister, Richard Vardon, argued the circumstances of the tragic case were "exceptional" and could lead the judge to impose a suspended sentence.