An estate agent has been jailed for causing the death of a former University of York student in a road crash near Filey.
York Crown Court heard that Elizabeth Tiffin, 31, pulled out of a junction on the A1039 near Muston straight into the path of Georgia Porter’s SYM Chacha moped.
Porter, who was 21 years’ old, was knocked off her motorbike and struck the bonnet and windscreen of Tiffin’s WV Beetle, before landing on the edge of a kerb on the central reservation.
She was airlifted to hospital and fought for her life for several weeks during intensive care at Hull Royal Infirmary and York Hospital.
Porter, from Scarborough’s east coast, died on 13 October, 2022, six weeks after the accident.
Tiffin was initially charged with causing death by dangerous driving but offered a plea to an alternative count of causing death by careless driving. The prosecution ultimately accepted this plea.
Prosecutor Dan Cordey said that Tiffin was driving a blue Volkswagen which stopped at the King Hill junction of the A1039 and A165 Filey-to-Scarborough road near Muston at about 4.40pm on 29 August 2022.
There were two cars in front of her at the junction which pulled out safely into the road. Tiffin followed them and turned right but did not see Georgia’s moped approaching as she pulled out.
Cordey said: “[Tiffin] indicated to turn right across oncoming traffic and pulled into the dedicated lane for doing so.
“Georgia Porter was travelling along the A165 towards Scarborough, having left home and intending to go to work in Filey. She was riding perfectly safely, her front lights were on and the motorbike was illuminated.”
Porter, who was wearing a high-viz jacket and helmet, was riding within the 40mph speed limit in strong winds when Tiffin’s Beetle hit the side of her moped. She struck the windscreen and went over the bonnet.
A witness who was in the car behind the moped said Porter was “clearly visible and there to be seen”.
Ultimately, Tiffin had “failed to keep a proper look-out when turning right”.
Tiffin, lately of Derwent Street, Cockermouth, appeared for sentence yesterday when the court was told that since the accident, she had accrued six points on her licence for two speeding offences in January and June 2022.
The prosecution read out a victim-impact statement from Porter’s mother, Cheryl Porter, on behalf of the family including her father Andrew and two brothers.
She described Georgia as a “free spirit” who was “intelligent, vibrant, unique” and “her zest for life and enthusiasm were infectious”.
Judge Simon Hickey said Tiffin’s “unsafe manoeuvre” across the junction was “more than just a momentary lapse of concentration” and gave Porter “no chance” of avoiding a collision.
He told Tiffin: “You know what a devastating impact it’s had (on Georgia’s family). This is, of course, a tragedy that is going to last a lifetime for this family.”
He added: “What concerns me in reaching the decision I have to in this case is that despite causing the death of a young woman who had her life before her, you went on to break the law twice more and that does have an effect upon the sentence.”
He said although Tiffin had been on a “downward spiral” since the fatal accident and being dismissed from her job in May 2023, it had to be an immediate jail sentence because of the two speeding offences since the crash. Tiffin was jailed for nine months and given a two-year driving ban.
