Billy Stokoe has been detained for more than six years after admitting causing the death of Gloria Stephenson in a crash while he was 18, high on cannabis and using his mobile phone. Stephenson, 86, was hit on a zebra crossing in Sunderland on Burdon Road at about 13:00 BST on 16 May 2025 as she walked a family dog.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that Stokoe was riding an illegal electric motorbike that was not road legal and was in poor condition when he struck her. He rode away after the collision, even though dashcam footage shown to the court captured him being knocked off the bike and then getting back on and riding off. Passers by tried to help Stephenson, but paramedics confirmed she died at the scene.

The court was told Stokoe had been using his phone for at least half a mile before the crash and was found to be three times the driving limit for cannabis. The motorbike had only one brake lever on the left handle, a detail that underscored just how unsafe the machine was before it reached the crossing.

What happened after the crash sharpened the anger of Stephenson’s family. Stokoe drove to a friend’s house, ditched the bike, changed his clothes and went home before later telling his mother, who took him to the police station. Eight days after killing her, he went to Wembley to watch Sunderland play and applied to have his bail changed so he could go abroad on holiday.

Stephenson’s daughters described her as “vital and vivacious”, a woman with a zest for life and strong moral principles, and said she had built a successful career in the NHS after being widowed three times. She left behind four daughters and 13 grandchildren. In court, her eldest daughter said Stokoe had taken the life of a woman who “gave more than it took” and left their “beautiful, clever courageous mam” to die “at the side of the road like she was a piece of rubbish in the gutter.”

The family’s message landed on the same point the court did: this was not a momentary mistake but a chain of choices. Stokoe took cannabis, used his phone, rode a machine that should not have been on the road and left the scene after hitting an elderly woman on a crossing. His detention for more than six years reflects the scale of that recklessness, and the unanswered question now is not what he did, but how he thought he could carry on as if nothing had happened.