Woman found guilty of killing MP’s daughter in hit-and-run

A woman has been sentenced for death by careless driving after killing an MP’s daughter in hit-and-run.

Jennie Dowd an NHS project manager at the Royal Liverpool Hospital and, daughter of Labour MP Peter Dowd, died in September 2020 aged 31, nine days after suffering serious head injuries when she was knocked off her bike in Sefton, Merseyside.

The driver, Lucy Ashton a 24-year-old care worker has been jailed for a year and banned from driving for 18 months.

She admitted death by careless driving and failing to stop.

Mr Dowd told Liverpool Crown Court “The thought I will never see Jennie again is often unbearable,” in an impact statement.

Mr Dowd, elected as MP for Bootle MP in 2015 who served as a shadow minister from 2017 to 2020, said on the morning his daughter was knocked down he heard emergency service vehicles nearby.

He said: “Little did I know they were on their way to help Jennie, who lay dying in the road just 100 yards from where I live.

“The idea that I was just a minute away from where she had been knocked down, deserted and left alone by the driver, injured and dying has stayed with me ever since.”

“So many people would say Jennie lit up the room. She did. This is what we will all miss. Her laugh. Her smile. Her humour. Simply her.”

The court heard how Dowd had recently married her partner, Samantha Brighton, and that they had been planning start a family via IVF.