A primary school teacher has been cleared of causing the death of a motorcyclist after telling a jury that the biker clipped her wing mirror as he rode past her.
Charlotte Huish sobbed as the jury at Exeter Crown Court returned their unanimous verdict after less than an hour.
She was comforted by her husband as she was helped out of the dock after being told by Judge Graham Cottle she was discharged and free to go.
Huish was cleared of causing an accident which happened when she was driving back to her home in Kingskerswell with her two children after having breakfast near Topsham 13 months ago.
Motorcyclist Terrence Knight, aged 72, died three days after the accident on the A380 dual carriageway between Kingsteignton and Newton Abbot.
Huish, aged 34, is a primary teacher working in Torbay but who has previously worked at Ipplepen and All Saints Marsh in Newton Abbot.
She said she was about to overtake a slow moving tractor and trailer when the accident happened. She started to pulled out but returned to her own lane after seeing something in her blind spot.
She said the motorcyclist then came past and clipped her wing mirror before losing control and crashing into the central reservation.
Huish, of Claremont Avenue, Kingskerswell, denied causing Mr Knight’s death by inconsiderate driving. She was found not guilty.
The prosecution alleged she pulled out as Mr Knight was overtaking her and clipped his bike a glancing blow. They say she should have been aware he was passing.
Huish said she had gone for breakfast at Darts Farm in Topsham before dropping her husband Stephen at a station and driving home with her two young children.
She said she was driving at a leisurely speed and started planning an overtaking movement when she saw the slow-moving tractor in front of her.
She waited for a vehicle to overtake her and then checked her mirrors before pulling out.
She said: ’I looked in the mirrors and over my shoulder. I did not see anything to prevent me overtaking. There was another car quite far back but nothing else I could see.
’I never saw the motorcycle. If I had done I would have slowed down and stayed where I was. I pulled out very slowly and calmly and got maybe half way across the line when I saw something in the corner of my eye.
’I looked over my shoulder again and saw a black object at the back end of the car on the driver’s side. it was a complete surprise to me and I moved back into the slow lane away from it.
’I believe it was travelling faster than me. There was a very small noise of the wing mirror flicking back and the biker came past and clipped my wing mirror.
’I looked again and the motorcyclist was very wobbly and then he came off and rolled and rolled. he was up the road from me because I had slowed down a lot.’
Huish said she and her children were all very upset at the scene and she spent the next day calling the police repeatedly to check on Mr Knight’s condition.