A grandmother who was visiting her newborn granddaughter at the maternity ward of a hospital was run over and killed by a nurse, an inquest heard.
Mary Owen-Jones, 51, was hit by nurse Chloe Thelwell’s car on New Year’s Day in 2023.
The nurse cut a corner in her grey Audi as she left the hospital car park and witnesses said her car windscreen was too misted over to spot the grandmother.
The hearing heard the Crown Prosecution Service ruled out charging staff nurse Thelwell with causing death by dangerous driving.
Thelwell was driving at 10-15mph with the advisory limit in the hospital grounds being 10mph as she left Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan, North Wales.
Witnesses said the nurse told them: ‘I just didn’t see her.’
Fellow driver Dewi Wyn Williams said the windscreen on Thelwell’s Audi was completely misted up.
He told the hearing that he thought to himself: ‘No wonder you didn’t see her, you can’t see anything.’
Mary Owen-Jones, 51, was hit by nurse Chloe Thelwell’s car on New Year’s Day in 2023
Mrs Owen-Jones was visiting her daughter Jasmine – pictured – and newborn granddaughter when the accident happened
The family said: ‘She had a passion for life and her family and was particularly looking forward to being a grandma to her newly born granddaughter, April Rose’
Thelwell told police she did not think her windscreen was misted up as she would not have been able to get out of the car park’s awkward exit if it was.
Forensic crash investigator Ian Thompson said Mrs Owen-Jones who was wearing dark clothes, crossed a few metres from an illuminated pedestrian crossing.
He said she should have seen the car with its headlights and indicator on.
He said those factors, combined with the fact Ms Thelwell had cut the corner, all played a part in the crash.
An inquest heard she was taken to the hospital’s A&E department with a broken leg before being airlifted to Stoke before dying from a bleed on the brain 36 hours later.
Ms Owen-Jones’s bleed on the brain was exacerbated by blood thinners which she had been prescribed after a heart operation.
John Gittins, senior coroner for north Wales east and central, said the Crown Prosecution Service considered bringing a charge of causing death by dangerous driving.
But the CPS decided there was no realistic prospect of a jury finding Ms Thelwell guilty.
Forensic crash investigator Ian Thompson said Mrs Owen-Jones who was wearing dark clothes, crossed a few metres from an illuminated pedestrian crossing
Thelwell was driving at 10-15mph with the advisory limit in the hospital grounds being 10mph as she left Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan, North Wales
The coroner recorded a conclusion of death in a road traffic collision and pointed to a combination of factors as the cause.
Mrs Owen-Jones, who also worked as a classroom assistant, leaves her husband Arwel, son Andrew and daughter Jasmine.
In a moving tribute, her devastated family said after her death: ‘Mary is survived by her son and daughter, Andrew and Jasmine, her granddaughter, April Rose and her husband, Arwel.
‘She had a passion for life and her family and was particularly looking forward to being a grandma to her newly born granddaughter, April Rose.’
