Nick Bannister: Yorkshire hotel director acquitted of causing guest's death by careless driving as trial collapses

Nicholas Bannister, 64, has been on trial at Bradford Crown Court since last week accused of causing the death by careless driving of Judith Wadsworth, 66, from Baildon.

On Tuesday, Mr Bannister was formally acquitted by a jury on the directions of a judge after prosecutors said there was no longer a prospect of a conviction on the evidence available.

Mrs Wadsworth was crossing an access road near the main entrance to the Coniston Hotel, near Skipton, , when she was hit by Mr Bannister’s Range Rover in February 2020.

A jury has heard how the vehicle had just pulled out from a small road from the reception area and was travelling at 9-12mph at the time of the collision.

Mr Bannister stopped the Range Rover about 20 metres after the impact and later told officers he only realised what happened after hearing a “terrible noise” from under his vehicle.

Prosecutor Michael Smith told the jury the prosecution was no longer offering any evidence.

Judge Jonathan Gibson said this was “an entirely appropriate decision in my view” and ordered the jury of four men and seven women to find Mr Bannister not guilty.

The Coniston estate has been owned by Bannister’s parents, Boundary Mill founder Michael and his wife Ethne, since the 1960s.