A Chagford motorist who lost control of her car, resulting in the death of a 90-year-old woman has been banned from driving for 18 months.

Kassey Thomas was driving home from Okehampton to Chagford when she clipped the nearside hedge and veered across the road into the path of the car in which Margaret Voce was a passenger.

Mrs Voce had gone with her daughter to pick up the family dog from a vet’s surgery in Chagford and they were heading back towards their home near Okehampton. She suffered a broken arm, leg and ribs in the accident and despite being treated at Derriford Hospital, she died 22 days after the accident.

Exeter Crown Court heard mother-of-four Thomas, aged 47, was a carer who also worked as a part time taxi driver until losing her licence.

She would have to spend £100 a week on taxi fares during her driving ban so she can carry on working in Okehampton.

Thomas admitted causing death by careless driving and was banned from driving for 18 months and curfewed for three months by Judge Geoffrey Mercer, QC.

Judge Mercer told Thomas: ‘I sentence you on the basis that you are a thoroughly respectable woman. You accept that your driving caused another person’s death.

‘This is a very sad and tragic case. You were driving on a road you must have known well and there was a moment of inattention, which caused this tragedy.

‘Margaret Voce was active for a woman of her age and a much loved mother, grandmother and great grandmother. I have read the impact statement from her family.

‘As the family will understand, no sentence this court can pass can adequately reflect or address their loss and grief, and the grief of those who knew and loved her.’

Sean Brunton, prosecuting, said the accident happened at around 2pm on December 7, 2016.

Mrs Voce was the front seat passenger in her daughter’s VW Tiguan as they drove home from picking up their dog at a vet. Thomas was driving in the opposite direction near Great Tree Cottage when she clipped a wall on a bend at the brow of a hill. Her Astra was propelled across the road and crashed head on with the other car.

Adrian Chaplin, defending, said the accident resulted from a momentary lapse of concentration and that Thomas was filled with regret and remorse.

She had lost her part time job as a taxi driver and had been paying £20 a day in taxi fares to get to her work as a carer in Okehampton since receiving an interim ban when she pleaded guilty last week.

The ban would also cause her serious problems looking after her children, he said.