Knife-wielding boy, 13, who ran over and killed grandmother Marcia Grant, 60, with her own car will serve two years in custody for causing her death by dangerous driving

A 13-year-old boy who ran over and killed a 60-year-old grandmother with her own car has been told he will serve two years in custody for causing her death by dangerous driving.

The judge, Mrs Justice May, heard how the boy – who can’t be identified – ran over social worker Marcia Grant outside her Sheffield home, despite the frantic attempts of her husband, Delroy, to stop him.

Mrs Grant, who was hailed as a ‘pillar of the community’ was left with catastrophic injuries following the incident in April – with the boy later saying to cops: ‘Is she dead?’ and ‘looks like I got my first kill?’ before insisting: ‘It was an accident, I swear.’

Speaking at Sheffield Crown Court today, the judge told the youth: ‘You made a bad choice. You knew that taking her car was wrong. You knew that taking her kitchen knife was wrong.’

She said prosecutors ‘accepted’ the teen – who was 12 at the time of the incident – ‘did not mean to harm Mrs Grant’, adding: ‘The offence you committed was serious but it was not murder.’

Marcia Grant, pictured, died after her Honda Accord was reversed over her in April

A car was left at the scene on Hemper Lane, Greenhill, Sheffield 

Police were called to the Sheffield suburb after reports of a collision

The judge said it was a ‘very bad accident’.

The judge described how Mrs Grant was a committed foster carer who she said was the ‘shining lodestar’ of her family.

The court previously heard Mrs Grant died on April 5 after suffering ‘catastrophic injuries’ when she was knocked to the ground and run over by her own car. 

READ MORE: ‘Looks like I got my first kill’: Chilling words of knife-wielding boy, 13, after he ran over grandmother, 60, in her own car are revealed – as he admits death by dangerous driving

Police and paramedics were called to an incident outside Mrs Grant’s house on Hemper Lane, Greenhill, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Her family released a statement after her death which said: ‘Marcia was a warm, loving and dedicated wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend and a pillar of her community.’

But, when the boy first appeared before court in April, prosecutor Gary Crothers told Sheffield Youth Court that police at the scene noted that youth said ‘Is she dead?’, ‘Looks like I got my first kill?’ and ‘It was an accident, I swear.’

When the youngster first appeared at crown court in April, Ben Campbell, defending, said the issue in relation to these comments was ‘what you can infer from them in all the circumstances’.

Mr Crothers told the youth court: ‘At around 7pm on the evening in question this defendant is seen on CCTV attempting to take Mrs Grant’s car.

Floral tributes left outside a house on Hemper Lane, Greenhill, Sheffield, following the death 

Police outside a house in Sheffield after the boy was arrested 

The boy was arrested shortly after on suspicion of murder and possession of a bladed article

‘Mrs Grant tries to stop him by going behind the car.

‘On CCTV, the vehicle is driven slightly erratically at this time and it does come to a stop.

‘Mrs Grant positions herself behind the vehicle. The vehicle reverses, causing her to fall on her back and her head impacts with the ground.

‘She was trapped under the vehicle, her husband tried to break the window of the car to get the defendant out of the car.’

The prosecutor said the vehicle then reversed ‘at some speed causing the catastrophic injuries to Mrs Grant’.

He said she was pronounced dead at the scene just after 7.30pm by attending paramedics.

The district crown prosecutor for Yorkshire and Humberside, Malcolm Christy, described the death of Mrs Grant as a ‘tragedy’ caused by ‘the senseless and dangerous actions of the defendant’.

He added: ‘Due to the seriousness of the case, an immediate charging decision was required, and the defendant was initially charged with murder under our “threshold test”.

‘Following further investigations by South Yorkshire Police – including a reconstruction of the scene, expert reports and witness statements – we reviewed our initial decision and concluded there was no longer a realistic prospect of conviction for that offence.

‘This was in line with our duty to keep all cases under continuous review and to ensure the right person is charged with the right offence.

‘Today the defendant has pleaded guilty to the offence of causing death by dangerous driving.

‘Our thoughts are with Marcia Grant’s family and friends who feel her loss every day.’

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