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A 30-STONE motorist who caused the death of a jogger claims she is too fat to be sent to jail.

Unemployed Linda Ann Jenns mowed down 45-year-old Paul Stinton in her white Ford Kuga after jumping a red light,

The 49-year-old begged to be spared prison after being found guilty of causing the death of Mr Stinton by dangerous driving after three days of deliberation.

Her barrister Ian Bridge pleaded with the judge at Canterbury Crown Court not to jail "morbidly obese" Jenns - because she wouldn't be able to cope with life behind bars.

He said she had a stroke seven years ago and at the time of the crash was receiving treatment for her weight problem.

Mr Bridge said she had lost between five and six stone and was hoping for a gastric band to be fitted which would have increased her life expectancy quite dramatically.

He said: "As it is, she is grossly overweight, morbidly obese and since the incident has put on even more weight.

"She is a person for whom a prison sentence would be extraordinarily difficult and I don't think I exaggerate when I say she might not get through it."

Judge Heather Norton adjourned sentence for two weeks pending medical reports and granted Jenns bail.

But she warned Jenns, of Ashford, Kent, that she faced "an almost certain" jail sentence for the offence -and also gave her an interim driving ban.

The jury had heard evidence from a number of of motorists and shoppers waiting near a retail park in Ashford, Kent, on a wet winter's day in January 2014.

(Image: SWNS)

One of them, Debbie Lange told the court: "I was sitting talking with my daughter when a grey van came hurtling past my car in the outside lane of the dual carriageway.

"It shook my car which made me look up and it went through the red light. Two seconds later a white car came past at speed and straight through the red traffic light.

"I then noticed something flying up in the air. I wasn't sure what it was until I saw some arms and legs.

"I said to my daughter: 'My goodness, did you see that?' I realised then it was a person.

"I hadn't seen him before but I had noticed that there were some people at the lights waiting to cross."

Prosecutor Simon Taylor told the jury - which had been reduced to 11 after a juror recognised one of the witnesses - that some witnesses estimated Jenns' speed at up to 70 mph.

(Image: SWNS)

But he said the Crown accepted that expert evidence indicated that Jenns was travelling at within the 40 mph speed limit.

He told the trial: "We say that she drove at a speed which was too fast for the road conditions or contrary to traffic signals on the traffic lights.

"It is the Crown's case that it was the driving as a whole which fell far below the standards of a competent and careful driver."

Mr Stinton was taken to hospital by Air Ambulance suffering from head, chest, neck and abdominal injuries and died three weeks later.

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