Teenage e-bike rider jailed for over six years for killing great-grandmother at zebra crossing

A teenage e-bike rider has been sentenced to six years and nine months in prison for killing a great-grandmother in a crash.

Billy Stokoe, 19, pleaded guilty to causing the death by dangerous driving of Gloria Stephenson, 86, at Newcastle Crown Court in February.

He was over the cannabis limit when he collided with Mrs Stephenson while riding an illegal and defective black Sur-Ron electric motorbike as she was using a zebra crossing on the B1286 Burdon Road in Sunderland, near the junction with Lidcombe Close, on 16 May last year.

He held his mobile phone in his left hand despite the left-sided brake being the only one that worked, and rode for half-a-mile in that manner, the court heard.

Dashcam footage showed he did not slow down or try to avoid Mrs Stephenson, who was walking her daughter's dog.

Emergency services attended the collision, but Mrs Stephenson, from the Silksworth area of Sunderland, died at the scene having suffered a severe leg injury and cardiac arrest.

Footage of the incident released by Northumbria Police showed the moments before and after the crash.

Mrs Stephenson can be seen crossing the road just before she is hit by Stokoe, who was 18 at the time, on his e-bike.

He crashes to the ground and comes off his bike, and can be seen getting back on it and circling the scene.

Stokoe then takes off his balaclava and appears to be looking for his mobile phone, which is handed to him by a passer-by, before he rides off.

He changed his clothes and hid the e-bike at a friend's house.

Around an hour later, Stokoe later handed himself in at a police station.

In footage of his arrest, he can be heard asking a police officer: "Is she dead?"

Mrs Stephenson was a mother of four, with 13 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, who had managed domestic services for a local health authority.

One of her daughters, Lisa Tench, addressed Stokoe in the dock and said in her victim statement: "You, on your illegal, defective bike. You, speeding. You, on your phone. You, under the influence of cannabis.

"Mam didn't stand a chance. You hit her with such ferocity that you catapulted her feet away from the crossing inflicting those horrific injuries on her and injuring my dog.

"You drove off and left her there to die."

Eldest daughter Julie Francis told the court: "Our Mam was fit and healthy, with years left to live a full and active life.

"She had a zest for life that did not fade or diminish with age, she was vital and vivacious until the day you killed her.

"Our Mam was a beautiful woman, looking good was effortless to her, in fact she was known as 'Glamorous Gloria'.

"But, much more importantly, she was a good person, with strong moral principles which she tried to live her life by."

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Sentencing Stokoe on Friday, Judge Robert Adams said Mrs Stephenson was a vulnerable road user on a pedestrian crossing who had waited for traffic to stop for her and the dog.

Stokoe was also disqualified from driving for more than eight years.

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