Nick Bannister trial: Owner of Yorkshire hotel denies careless driving after Range Rover struck and killed wedding guest in the car park

Nick Bannister, 64, denies causing the death of Judith Wadsworth, 66, by driving his Range Rover without due care and attention in the grounds of the Coniston Hotel, near Skipton, in February 2020. On Monday his trial opened at Bradford Crown Court.

Mrs Wadsworth was at the hotel, owned by the Bannister family since the 1960s, for the wedding of her daughter, and was struck on a pedestrian walkway while carrying items from her car to the reception.

Bannister did not see her as he began a short journey from the turning circle to an access road leading to the gym and spa, and hit her at between 9-12mph. She was dragged beneath the car for around 20 metres.

The former Pendle Forest and Craven Hunt master and chairman of Haydock Park Racecourse accepts he was the driver of the car that killed Mrs Wadsworth, from Baildon, but argues that her death was an unfortunate accident.

The court heard that there is only one eyewitness to the collision, hotel worker Natasha Hobson-Shaw, who was driving towards Bannister at the time.

Opening the case, Michael Smith from the Crown Prosecution Service said the jury would hear ‘evidence Bannister was careless’. Though prosecutors accept he had to pay attention to the view to his left, which was blocked by the building, they also argue he needed to be aware of the view to his right, the direction Mrs Wadsworth approached from, and should have been familar with the layout of the car park.

Other factors due to be considered by the jury include whether Mrs Wadsworth had thought Bannister was stopping for her due to his low speed, and whether the windscreen pillars of the Range Rover obscured his view.

The opening of Bannister’s defence case is due to start on Tuesday and the trial continues.

The father-of-three, whose son Harry is a successful jockey, lives on a farm at Bell Busk, close to the hotel, and is the son of Michael Bannister, founder of the Boundary Mill retail empire and a former president of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.