IT manager jailed for mowing down graduate

An IT manager who mowed down and killed a pedestrian while she crossed the road as he sped home from work has reportedly received a two-year jail sentence.

Glenn Wall, 35, was speeding in his Vauxhall Astra from his workplace some 25 miles away in Rochdale, because he wanted to get home for a family barbecue.

At a speed of up to 36mph, he ploughed into Helen Thurm, a graduate who was returning from a job interview, as she crossed Manchester Road in Altrincham in June 2016.

But Wall, who hit her in a 30mph zone just a mile from his home, claimed the 25-year-old was on her phone and walked out without looking. Probes of her mobile showed his claim was false.

Eventually, he admitted that he simply did not wish to perform an emergency stop after running a traffic light on the route, which he used regularly having worked at his IT job for eight years.

“When the light changed to amber you sailed on,” said Judge Patrick Field QC, who found Wall guilty of death by dangerous driving. “You could have stopped…you decided not to”.

Passing sentence at Manchester Crown Court, the judge also told him: “You were driving too fast in the circumstances. Not so fast that you were grossly exceeding the speed limit, but too fast in the prevailing circumstances.”

The family of Miss Thurm -- who died of her injuries after the collision, said: “Driving a car is something which people take all too lightly, even though it can ultimately be a killing machine.”