Fiona Hodge denies causing the death of Donna Crossman by careless driving on the grounds of insanity
Fiona Hodge arriving at Bristol Crown court where, Monday 13 April 2026 she is on trial for causing death by careless driving. The offence happened in June 2024 following the death of Donna Crossman on Brunel Way before a Take That concert at Ashton Gate Stadium(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach Plc)
A woman who drove onto the pavement on the Brunel Way flyover and knocked a pedestrian over the railings and onto the ground below exclaimed: “Oh God, I think I’ve killed someone”, a court heard today.
The woman hit by Fiona Hodge’s red Citroen C1 car died of her injuries after falling more than 20ft onto the BMX track below, but Hodge denies a single charge of causing her death by careless driving in a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
Hodge’s defence is that she suffered an epileptic seizure, causing her to lose control of the car she was driving and mount the kerb, knocking Donna Crossman off the flyover and to her death below.
Donna, who had led an extraordinary life that saw her work at the Pentagon, and manage both the Welsh national women’s netball and rugby teams, suffered ‘catastrophic’ injuries and tragically died, the jury was told.
Donna, from South Wales, was walking with two friends from Clifton to the Take That concert at Ashton Gate Stadium back in June 2024, while Hodge was driving back from an afternoon walking with two friends in the Mendips.
Bristol Crown Court heard evidence from both sets of friends on the first day of the trial, as well as from two young women who were following Hodge’s Citroen car from the Long Ashton bypass.
Grace Hansford was driving into Bristol from Cheddar with her friend Charlotte Hicks, and both told police soon after the crash – and again in court under cross-examination – that they were concerned enough about Hodge’s driving that Miss Hansford braked to slow down to stay back from the Citroen in front.
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The jury was played a body-worn video recording from a police officer in the aftermath of the crash, with Miss Hansford and Miss Hicks telling police the red Citroen in front of them kept swerving into the bus lane, and had its left indicator on but didn’t turn off the A370 as it approached the Brunel Way flyover.
“It swerved enough times for us to be concerned and to say something to each other,” said Miss Hansford. “The car wasn’t driving normally. Once we got closer to the bridge, I braked and I said to Charlotte ‘I’m going to give that car space, I don’t trust it’.
“As we got more onto the bridge, I saw the car bump up onto the kerb. I noticed there were three women on the bridge walking along. I heard a bang, and one of the women was hit,” she added.
Fiona Hodge arriving at Bristol Crown court on Monday 13 April 2026. Fiona Hodge is on trial for causing death by careless driving, following the death of Donna Crossman on Brunel Way before a Take That concert in June 2024(Image: PAUL GILLIS / Reach Plc)
Fiona Hodge, 69, from Tyne Street in St Werburgh’s, Bristol, was driving her friends Juliet Harmer and Judith Rieser back from a day trip to hike up Crook Peak in the Mendips. Both Ms Harmer and Mrs Rieser told the court that they had no concerns about their friend’s driving on the way back, and didn’t notice anything untoward.
Juliet Harmer was in the front seat, and said: “There was nothing unusual about her driving until the point we veered off the road.
“We were driving along, we had been chatting but weren’t at the time, and then suddenly I was aware that the car was drifting to the left and up onto the kerb. It was a very surreal situation. I became immediately aware of three women on the pavement. It was so quick, I thought we had hit them all,” she told the court.
“It was a matter of moments and we were colliding with what I now know to be one of the pedestrians. She hit the bonnet and the windscreen right in front of me,” she added.
Judith Rieser, in the back seat behind the driver, said she also had no concerns about Hodge’s driving, until she felt the car hit the kerb. “I felt it and I leant forward to say ‘I think you’ve gone onto the kerb’, but I didn’t get a chance to say it before we hit the woman. I saw the impact of the woman on the windscreen.
The aftermath of the crash in June 2024 which killed Donna Crossman – police closed Brunel Way next to Ashton Gate Stadium (Image: Tristan Cork)
“When we stopped, she (Fiona Hodge) said: ‘Oh God, I think I’ve killed someone’,” she added. “It was immediately afterwards, she became immediately aware what had happened.”
Statements made by Donna Crossman’s two friends Clare Smith and Angela Gassom, were read to the court. They said they were old friends from their days in the RAF in the 1990s, and had met up at Temple Meads, travelled to Clifton to check into their hotel, had lunch and had only had one pint, before setting off to walk down to Ashton Gate for the Take That concert.
They were walking single file along the Brunel Way flyover on the pavement, with Donna at the back.
Both described the car narrowly missing them and turning to see Donna ‘in the air’ as she was knocked over the railings and off the flyover.
They rushed down the steps to access the area under the flyover – where there were already many people – and tried to help Donna.
Donna Crossman, from South Wales, who was killed in an RTC on Brunel Way/Plimsoll Bridge on her way to a Take That concert at Ashton Gate in Bristol, on June 9, 2024(Image: Price family handout)
The court was told that although Fiona Hodge acknowledges her driving was careless and had caused the death of Donna Crossman, she had pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charge on the grounds of insanity.
Both the prosecution, defence and the judge explained to the jury that this was an archaic legal term still in use from around 200 years ago, which meant at the time of the incident she was affected by a ‘disease of the mind’ – which covered a range of what we now know as neurological conditions, including epilepsy.
Defending, Ian Bridge told the jury that they would be shown expert evidence that Fiona Hodge had an ‘undiagnosed and unforeseen medical condition at the time’
“This meant she would have had no conscious control of her vehicle when the collision occurred. She was in the throes of an epileptic seizure, and since the collision, Mrs Hodge has been formally diagnosed and received treatment,” he added.
Donna Crossman, from South Wales, who was killed in an RTC on Brunel Way/Plimsoll Bridge on her way to a Take That concert at Ashton Gate in Bristol, on June 9, 2024(Image: Price family handout)
But Adam Vaitilingham, prosecuting, told the jury that it is the Crown’s case that, on balance it is more likely that this wasn’t the case, and Fiona Hodge was simply driving carelessly.
The jury was told it would hear an epilepsy expert witness for the defence on Tuesday, in what is expected to be a three-day trial.