A 61-year-old in Waltham Abbey has been jailed for causing death by dangerous driving.
Christopher Allen had pleaded not guilty, but received a guilty verdict at a five-day trial at Chelmsford Crown Court. At the conclusion of the trial on April 2, 2025, Allen was sentenced to 14 years in jail and disqualified from driving for a total of 19 years.
The accident occurred in April 2023, on Epping New Road in Loughton. Allen was riding his motorcycle when he collided with a pedestrian, 33-year-old Adeline Stuart-Watt.
Ms. Stuart-Watt had just dismounted from her pedal bicycle and was crossing the road, having spent the afternoon cycling in Epping Forest. Investigations by Essex Police revealed that Allen had consumed significant amounts of alcohol shortly before the accident, and was driving at more than double the speed limit.
Ms. Stuart-Watt, an academic and policy fellow at London School of Economics, was described by colleague Professor Elizabeth Robinson as “thoughtful, skilled, supportive, friendly, and collegiate.”
Dangerous driving is described as falling “significantly below the standard expected of a competent and careful driver and is obviously dangerous.” A driver may be charged with the lesser offence of careless driving if the prosecutor decides that the standard of driving was not so incompetent as to be classed as dangerous.
In cases where someone is charged with dangerous driving, solicitors experienced in similar cases to this one can always give the best advice to anyone facing driving offence charges.