THE case against a hotel owner who ran over a wedding guest resulting in her death has been thrown out.

Nicholas Bannister, 64, of Bell Busk, north-west of Skipton, has been on trial at Bradford Crown Court since last Monday, accused of causing the death of 66-year-old Baildon grandmother Judith Wadsworth by careless driving on February 7, 2021.

The 64-year-old old struck Mrs Wadsworth with his Range Rover at Coniston Hotel and Spa, at Coniston Cold the night before her daughter’s wedding.

Mrs Wadsworth was returning from the car park to reception – where her daughter and the maid-of-honour were - with a number of items when she was hit on a walkway for pedestrians, just an hour after she had arrived at the hotel.

The prosecution put forward the case that Mr Bannister when turning right at a t-junction to get onto the hotel’s access road had not paid due care attention and this was why he hit Mrs Wadsworth.

But the case has been thrown out today as events took a dramatic twist.

The Judge explained to the jury that the prosecution "has reviewed its position and they no longer feel there is a realistic prospect of conviction."

The Judge said a foreman for the jury must give a not guilty verdict, formally.

The jury foreman confirmed that's the verdict and they are all agreed, before the Judge formally discharged Mr Bainnister.

The court heard Mr Bannister did not see Mrs Wadsworth, or know he had struck her, and only realised when he heard a “terrible noise” under his vehicle and stopped 20 metres from the crossover.

He got out of the car alongside employee Natasha Hobson-Shaw who had been driving the other way and saw Mrs Wadsworth in the road, then went over to try help.

He added: "We did what we could, sadly in vain."

A preliminary inquest hearing heard that Mrs Wadsworth suffered head and chest injuries in the collision and died at the scene.