Lorry driver cleared of killing top art designer Moira Gemmill in crash

A lorry driver has been acquitted of killing a renowned art designer by his careless driving.

Moira Gemmill, 55, was cycling to work at St James’s Palace when she was struck by a Mercedes tipper lorry near Lambeth Bridge in Westminster on April 9 2015.

Harrowing footage played to jurors showed the moment the lorry, driven by James Kwatia, pulled away from the bridge on to a roundabout approaching Horseferry Road, crushing Ms Gemmill beneath its wheels.

Off-duty police and paramedics tried to save her, but Ms Gemmill was declared dead at the scene.

Prosecutor Mark Gadsden alleged the 43-year-old driver had failed to use his mirrors properly and paid insufficient attention to cyclists as he reached the end of the bridge.

But Kwatia, from Catford, south-east London, denied causing death by careless driving and was found not guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey on Friday.

Ms Gemmill, who formerly worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum, had just started a new job as director of capital programmes at the Royal Collection Trust, working on projects at Windsor Castle and Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh.