Bill Cross, 79, was knocked down and killed by Paul Bithell in a Stoke-on-Trent pub car park A widow hugged the careless driver who  killed her husband yesterday in court after convincing the judge to give him softer sentence. Bill Cross, 79 - the grandfather of Port Vale striker Tom Pope - died 17 days after he was knocked down by a reversing motorist in a Stoke-on-Trent pub car park last November. Married father-of-two Paul Bithell, 30, was ordered to carry out 120 hours unpaid work after admitting causing death by careless driving. He claimed he had not been able to see the pensioner in the dark when he knocked him down in the Sneyd Arms pub in Sneyd Green.
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Bill Cross, 79, was knocked down and killed by Paul Bithell in a pub car park
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Bithell admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was spared jail
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Mr Cross's widow Doreen wrote letter to the judge saying it was an accident
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She hugged Bithell in court after he was given just 120 hours unpaid work
As he reversed Mr @placeholder must have been in the blind spot.