A pizza delivery driver was spared jail after killing a man with her car, as a judge ruled her “stupid” speeding was not malicious but amounted to careless driving.
Rosie Hanson, now 21, was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday to a 16-month prison term suspended for two years, 220 hours of unpaid work and a three-year driving ban. The court heard she had been travelling at approximately 60mph in a 40mph zone when she lost control of her VW Golf on Marine Parade in Sheerness, Kent, on the evening of January 17, 2024. Hanson, who was on a pizza delivery at the time, struck Ryan Phillips, 27, and his girlfriend Sophie Rowe as they walked along the pavement near the entrance to Barton’s Point Coastal Park.
‘Completely unsurvivable head injury’
The collision occurred at about 6.48pm. Mr Phillips and Ms Rowe were heading to a restaurant to celebrate his passing an apprenticeship as an IT technician. Prosecutor Tom Nicholson told the court the couple were “chatting and laughing” when Hanson’s car mounted the kerb. Ms Rowe was hit in the legs and ran to Mr Phillips, seeing blood coming from his mouth. A post-mortem examination found he had suffered a strike to his head on the car’s windshield – a “completely unsurvivable head injury from the outset”.
Data from Hanson’s iPhone showed she was travelling between 54 and 68mph in the moments before losing control. Judge Julian Smith, following expert analysis, concluded her speed was around 60mph. Hanson told a 999 call handler she had swerved because she thought a cat ran into the road. The prosecutor noted that account was “difficult to confirm or negate”. However, the prosecution argued that her speed, combined with an abrupt steering response, caused the vehicle to become unstable, rotate, cross the opposing lane, mount the pavement and collide with the couple.
Hanson, of Mimosa Avenue, Minster-on-Sea, Sheerness, had initially denied causing death by careless driving at a hearing in December 2024, before changing her plea and admitting the offence, as well as causing death while uninsured, in May this year. Her insurance policy did not cover business or professional use for her second job as a pizza delivery driver. She received a concurrent nine-month sentence for driving while uninsured. Driving without insurance is a strict liability offence in the UK, meaning intent is not required for conviction; standard penalties range from a £300 fine and six points to unlimited fines and disqualification. In Hanson’s case, the judge imposed a custodial term but suspended it.
‘I intended to spend the rest of my life with him’
In victim impact statements read to the court, Ms Rowe described the couple’s four-year relationship and their plans to move in together. Mr Phillips had just secured a dream job working in IT at a prison and was “very, very excited”. “The night before he passed away he said he planned to save for an engagement ring and this made me so happy,” she said. “We’d been waiting for that extra step in Ryan’s life, finally achieved something he wanted to do.” She called him a “gentle giant who would do anything for anyone”. Her statement concluded: “Losing Ryan has ruined my life. I intended to spend the rest of my life with him. I feel like I cannot do this anymore because he was everything to me.”
Catherine Phillips, the victim’s mother, told the court her son was not just her child but her “best friend” and one of the most “selfless people” you could meet. She described him as caring, thoughtful and “full of love for people around him”, adding that he was building a future for himself. “All that future has been taken away in an instant,” she said. “My life has fallen apart. I struggle every day just to get through. Grief is constant and overwhelming, the silence he has left behind is unbearable. I will carry this pain, this loss for the rest of my life.”
Ms Phillips also expressed distress over how Hanson was treated after the incident. She noted that Hanson was allowed to go home the night Mr Phillips died rather than being arrested at the scene, and that she was later charged by email. The grieving mother said she was left with a feeling that the seriousness of the incident was not reflected in how the defendant was handled.
Hanson’s lawyer, Allan Goh, said Thursday’s sentencing was the first opportunity for his client to express her feelings to the family, and that she indicated genuine remorse. In a letter read to the court, Hanson wrote: “I can’t put it into words how sorry I am this ever happened and if I could go back and change it, I would in seconds. For what I have seen on social media, Ryan you sounded like a lovely man which haunts me.”
Sentencing, Judge Julian Smith said: “The reason for tragic loss is failure in Rosie Hanson’s driving. Speeding to get a job done to deliver pizzas is stupid, but it is not of itself malicious… it should not happen.” He emphasised the sentence was “no measure” of a man’s life but of her culpability, adjusting it to reflect her young age — 19 at the time of the offence. “There is to my mind a realistic prospect of rehabilitation. I accept she is a low risk of re-offending and is in no way a danger,” he said. The judge acknowledged the impact of Mr Phillips’ death is “extraordinary and ongoing”, with Ms Rowe’s statement painting a picture of a “warm, enthusiastic and generous man”. “The time with Mr Phillips was precious indeed,” he added.
The judge also imposed a driving disqualification of three years, subject to Hanson passing an extended driving test. Under sentencing guidelines for causing death by careless driving, a minimum 12-month disqualification is mandatory, and an extended test may be required. The offence carries a maximum of five years’ imprisonment; the judge placed Hanson’s culpability at a level where a custodial sentence was warranted but suspended due to mitigating factors including her guilty plea and age. Hanson had worked in an admin job for her father and undertook ad hoc deliveries for a pizza company. The court heard that on the day of the crash she had taken a call from the pizza company asking her to work.
