A woman who was sentenced to three years in jail for manslaughter after being found by a jury to have confronted an elderly cyclist, causing her to be killed after she fell into the path of a vehicle, has had her conviction overturned at appeal.

Auriol Grey, who has cerebral palsy and is partially blind, had her conviction overturned today by the Court of Appeal, the BBC reports, three judges ruling that the prosecution’s case had been “insufficient even to be left to the jury” and that the “appellant’s conviction for manslaughter is unsafe”.

Ms Grey’s lawyers had told the judges that they believed no “base offence” was ever identified during the trial, a manslaughter conviction requiring an unlwaful action to have caused the death of Celia Ward in 2020, the senior judge later stating in conclusion that, “Had Mrs Ward not died we regard it as inconceivable that the appellant would have been charged with assault.”

The 50-year-old had been walking along a route in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, when she shouted at the cyclist to “get off the pavement” and gestured as she passed, Mrs Ward falling off her bike and into the path of oncoming traffic.

When Ms Grey was sentenced, Judge Sean Enright had called her “territorial about the pavement” and having “resented” the presence of a cyclist on it. However, whether the route was in fact a shared-use path was also questioned during the initial trial, Cambridgeshire Constabulary unable to “categorically” ascertain whether Mrs Ward had been cycling on a shared use path or pavement.

The case prompted campaigners to urge highways authorities to remove conflict between cyclists and pedestrians, with new shared-use signs installed in the town.

Grey left the scene before the arrival of the emergency services and went to a supermarket to do her shopping. She was arrested the next day, and claimed that Mrs Ward had been cycling “at high speed” and that she was “anxious I was going to get hit by it” so “flinched out with her left arm to protect herself”.

CCTV footage shared by Cambridgeshire Constabulary showed Grey shouting at Mrs Ward, described by her widower as an “experienced and competent cyclist”, to “get off the f***ing pavement” and the pedestrian was jailed for three years last year having been found guilty at a retrial.

However, appeal judges Dame Victoria Sharp, Mrs Justice Yip and Mrs Justice Farbey concluded that they have “no hesitation” in concluding that the conviction was “unsafe” and that the prosecution’s case had been “insufficient even to be left to the jury”.

The trio of appeal judges agreed with Ms Grey’s lawyers, one of whom — Adrian Darbishire KC — argued that no “base offence”, an unlawful action to have caused the death was ever established during the trial.

Dame Sharp said the jury had never been asked to decide “the fundamental question of whether a base offence was established” and concluded that “had Mrs Ward not died we regard it as inconceivable that the appellant would have been charged with assault”.

While her gesture towards the cyclist was described as “hostile”, Darbishire KC responded: “Hostile gesticulation is not a crime, otherwise we would have 50,000 football fans each weekend being apprehended.”

The Crown Prosecution Service’s barrister Simon Spence KC told the court that it was accepted that “common assault as the base offence was not identified by name”. He later asked for the case to be returned to the Crown Court for a retrial, a request that was denied.

In a statement released after the conviction was overturned, Ms Grey’s family urged for “lessons to be learnt”.

“Whilst we welcome the decision of the Court of Appeal, our thoughts today are also with the Ward family, and I am a sure a day doesn’t go by when they don’t remember their tragic loss,” the statement said.

“We are very relieved that Auriol’s prison ordeal is over and we would like to thank the staff and inmates of HMP Peterborough for the kindness and consideration they have shown over the last year.

“There has been unnecessary and prolonged suffering and vulnerable people like Auriol need better support from the justice system — we hope lessons will be learnt.”