A young woman who was a passenger in her partner’s car, died after he lost control of the vehicle while overtaking in freezing conditions.
Luton Crown Court heard it was late at night when the car spun off the A6 at Deadman’s Hill near Clophill.
Having smashed through a wooden fence, the car – a Volkswagen Golf – went up a grass embankment and then, after colliding with two tree stumps, flew into the air before landing on its roof and sliding to a stop on a bridal way.
The driver, Alexander Gresswell, suffered a fractured skull from which he recovered.
But his girlfriend, 28-year-old Maria Lopez-Alvarez, suffered much more serious injuries and was left unconscious after a post from the fence struck her head.
Maria, a teacher who had come to the UK from Portugal, remained in a coma in hospital for nearly three weeks when the decision was taken by her parents that her life support machine should be turned off.
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On Thursday January 14, 2021, Gresswell, 30, a former soldier of Hillgrounds Road, Kempston, appeared in court pleading guilty to a charge of causing the death by careless driving of his girlfriend who he lived with.
He came to court today having changed his plea to the same charge at the end of the prosecution’s case at his trial last November.
The matter had then been adjourned for reports.
At the trial, the court was told Gresswell had pulled out on a stretch of dual carriageway to overtake two cars in front of him.
It was a freezing night and it was after he had passed the cars and was attempting move back to the inside lane that the car went into a spin.
Prosecutor Anwar Nashashibi told the court that the spin occurred because either his car had encountered a slippery patch on the road, or he had steered back towards the inside lane “so violently and erratically” that it went out of control.
Either way, he said Gresswell had been driving too fast for the “freezing and slippery conditions” that night.
The crash happened at around 12.50am in the early hours of December 17, 2017.
The couple were in Mr Gresswell’s car travelling north along the A6 towards their home in Kempston.
Mr Nashashibi said it was a “freezing night,” adding “freezing nights make for slippery conditions.” He said frost was forming that night at the sides of the roads.
The conditions, he said, required drivers to exercise caution and he told the jury: “He lost control of his car after he overtook careful drivers on the dual carriageway.”
The court was told there was nothing wrong with his car or tyres and no other vehicle was involved.
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The prosecutor said the driver of one of the cars the defendant had overtaken was in another VW Golf travelling at around 45mph.
“He didn’t think it was safer to go any faster,” said Mr Nashashibi.
Two witnesses had estimated the speed of the defendant’s car as it went past them at between 50 and 60 miles per hours and 60 to 70mph.
Crash investigators had later concluded that Mr Gresswell had gone past the two cars on the duel carriageway at between 56 to 70 mph.
As a result, said the prosecutor, after the defendant had passed the cars and tried to steer back into the inside lane, his car began to “spin on its axis anti clockwise” and left the road at a 90 degree right angle to the direction of the road.
The court was told that after smashing through the wooden rail fence and travelling up the embankment, the car struck the stumps which caused it to become airborne, spin upside down and back to front.
When it landed on its roof and slid through the trees, it came to a halt on the track 40 meters from where it had left the road and facing back towards Clophill.
The jury was told that a wooden rail from the fence had entered the car striking Miss Lopez-Alvarez on her head and leaving her unconscious.
Mr Nashashibi said: “He probably lost control because he turned at a point where there was frost.”
But he said it was “a danger” the defendant should have been aware of and went on “He should have been going more slowly.”
Mr Nashashibi said “He lost control because he was driving too fast for the conditions.”
He said the outside temperature that night was minus 1 degree centigrade, but with the wind chill factor, it was minus 4.
Witnesses in the car the defendant overtook spoke of the night being “icy with patches of freezing fog.”
He said the witness had been travelling at 45mph that night because they didn’t think it was safe to go any faster.
The court was told even the emergency service vehicle called out to the crash that night had to drive slower than usual to the scene because of the icy conditions.
Following the collision, Mr Gresswell was spoken to in hospital by an officer, and said: ”The next thing I just lost all traction I had nothing. I tried to save it, but nothing.”
Mr Nashashibi said Maria had to be cut from crushed car by rescuers and she had suffered a severe head injury and loss of blood.
At Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge a scan showed a bleed in her head and a swelling of her brain.
She underwent an operation, but her condition didn’t improve and, after discussions with her family, her life support system was switched off and she died on January 5 2018.
The court was told months later when police had completed their investigation, Mr Gresswell was interviewed again, but on this occasion exercised his right not to answer questions.
Judge Steven Evans, hearing the case, was told Gresswell already had a history of mental health issues which were made worse by the death of his partner.
When he went on trial first in October 2019 he suffered a “psychotic episode” and the trial was halted.
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He was admitted to hospital but, in November of 2020, a retrial took place resulting in his change of plea mid-way through it.
A victim impact statement from Maria’s family was read out in court in which they spoke of her love for life and her joy at being a teacher in this country.
Mr Oliver Renton defending said: “It’s accepted his driving fell below the standards needed for the prevailing weather conditions.”
He said it was difficult to put in words just how deeply his client felt the loss of his partner.
Mr Renton said Gresswell had served as a soldier in Afghanistan and suffered “psychiatric damage” as a result of his experiences and it was his partner who had helped him regain “stability.”
Her death, he said, had left Gresswell “devastated.”
He went on: “It is quite clear to me he felt the guilt very keenly. He has been grieving hugely throughout.
The court was told Gresswell, an electrician, had been signed off as being unfit for work.
Judge Evans sentenced Gresswell to six months in prison, which he suspended for 18 months.
In addition he will have to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and be subject to a 20 day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement when he will work with probation to address his issues.
He was disqualified from driving for 12 months.
The judge told Gresswell: “I hope you can begin to rebuild your life. I am certain that is what Maria would have wished.”
