Driver who ran over and killed Ryanair flight attendant when he was distracted by text message he sent his partner about their child’s nappy is jailed for three years

• Kieran Cooney was distracted by text messages from his partner before crash 

The driver who killed a flight attendant in a horrific road smash after sending a one-word text message has been jailed for three years.

Cinzia Ceravolo, 36, was a Ryanair crew member who was returning home after two days away with work.

She had just arrived back at Liverpool John Lennon Airport on a flight from Dublin shortly after 11.15pm on Monday, August 22, 2022.

But she was hit by Kieran Cooney, 31, who was driving a Ford Focus, while crossing the road.

Cooney was tested for drugs at the scene where he was found to have metabolite of cocaine in his system and was over the limit.

Ms Ceravolo (pictured), an Italian national, was rushed to Aintree Hospital and transferred to the Walton Centre where she died from multiple injuries four days after she was hit

Cooney (pictured), of Blackrod Avenue in Speke, was jailed by Judge Andrew Menary KC for three years in prison

According to Henry Riding, prosecuting, Cooney had ‘taken a line of cocaine’ at a Coldplay concert in London on the Saturday before the incident.

However a fitness drug test showed the drugs did not impair the 31-year-old’s driving.

An investigation found the dad-of-one had used his phone in the seconds before he hit Ms Ceravolo.

Just moments before the crash, Cooney received two text messages from his partner, one about their child’s nappy.

He had sent a one-word reply saying ‘really’. But this was enough of a distraction for Cooeny not to see Ms Ceravolo, the court heard on December 14.

A witness had seen ms Ceravolo crossing the road ‘more slowly than expected’ and ‘slightly diagonal’ at the crossing, the court heard.

Mr Riding said: ‘Ms Ceravolo may or may not have been using her phone as she crossed the road.

‘Ms Ceravolo had requested a taxi to collect her from that area. However, the taxi driver arrived earlier and after waiting departed.

‘There is a high probability the victim was on her phone to see where the taxi driver was, but we do not know for sure.’

Cooney was not speeding in the 40mph zone and investigations found he was driving at around 36-37mph.

The road was clear at the time and illuminated by streetlights and Cooney’s Ford Focus was found not to have any defects.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that on December 14, Cooney was travelling on Hale Road to go back to his partner’s house.

Tributes flooded in for Ryanair flight attendant Cinzia Ceravolo (pictured), 36, who died four days later

The incident occurred just outside John Lennon Airport in Liverpool shortly after 11.15pm on Monday, August 22, 2022

When emergency services arrived at the scene, officers described Cooney as being in a ‘distressed state’ and ‘pacing’.

Ms Ceravolo, an Italian national, was rushed to Aintree Hospital and transferred to the Walton Centre where she died from multiple injuries four days after she was hit.

Mr Riding also read out a victim impact statement on behalf of Ms Ceravolo’s mum, Marisa Orlando.

She described the devastation her family and Ms Ceravolo’s friends felt after she was killed. She said, ‘the pain is in the air’.

She added: ‘Cinzia was the flower we wished for and wanted and now she is so far away.’

Her mother also described how hundreds of people attended a service for her daughter in Italy after her death.

Ms Ceravolo donated her organs which helped three boys here in the UK.

Marisa Orlando added: ‘He did not only destroy Cinzia’s life but that of a whole family, and many friends and relatives mourn her because she was a special human being, a generous woman who gave life to three English boys with her donated organs.’

Ms Ceravolo had moved to Liverpool for her love of English literature and music and to make a career here.

The court heard Cooney had received a caution in 2013 for possession of cocaine and in March 2021 was stopped by police for being ‘not in proper control of a motor vehicle’.

He was found to have a mobile phone in his hand and said he was using it as a satnav and was allowed to attend an awareness course.

Christopher Stables, defending, said Cooney was ‘hardworking’ and a ‘family man’.

Mr Stables told the court that the 31-year-old ‘can not stop thinking about the impact this has on the victim’s family’, cannot sleep and has become withdrawn. He added the dad-of-one is ‘deeply remorseful’.

Cooney, of Blackrod Avenue in Speke, was jailed by Judge Andrew Menary KC for three years in prison for death by dangerous driving and was banned from driving for six and a half years.

Judge Menary said: ‘The loss to her family is enormous. She was a capable woman with a zest for life. Ms Ceravolo had come to this country to pursue her career and experience the culture and her intelligent interests.’ He added the lives of the 36-year-old’s family were ‘irrevocably damaged’.

The judge also warned others who may use their phone while driving and said ‘there is no excuse for using a mobile phone while driving to make calls, send messages or look at social media.’

Such actions can cause ‘damage to so many lives’ and using a mobile phone should be likened to drink driving, the judge said.

Judge Menary added: ‘If people think it won’t happen to them, they may want to think and to look at this case and see how a decent, hard-working man made a terrible consequence.’

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