A MAN has appeared in court summoned in connection with a freak accident which claimed the life of an Ipswich mother.

A MAN has appeared in court summoned in connection with a freak accident which claimed the life of an Ipswich mother.

Lynda Ling, 56, was killed when a van rolled down a hill in Foxhall Road, Ipswich, and pinned her against a road sign in August last year.

Vincent Clarke, the driver of the van, has appeared at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court accused of failing to apply a handbrake and having a vehicle over the weight shown on the plate certificate.

Clarke, 43, of Kingfisher Rise, Saxmundham, has not yet entered a plea but did express the turmoil he has faced since the accident when he appeared at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

He said: “There is nothing I can say. I am the person who has got to live with it and I am the person who has got to try to sort things out in my head.”

Clarke, who runs the business Suffolk Drain Services from his home address in Saxmundham, declined to comment when approached by The Evening Star.

He was not arrested by police following the collision and is believed to have voluntarily spoken to officers.

The offences are only punishable with a fine.

Mrs Ling, a midwife at Ipswich Hospital was walking her black Labrador when the crash happened on August 30, near the Nuffield Hospital.

National Grid worker Paul Hill, who was at the scene, crawled under the van to try to help the mother of two but he could not feel a pulse.

The court heard that an inquest into Mrs Ling's death was due to be held on February 13 and Stephen Colman, prosecuting, requested the case be adjourned until after date.

Clarke did not object and the case will now be heard on February 20.