Care home tycoon Phillip John Burgan, 57, of Ling Lane in Scarcroft, admitted causing death by careless driving on the A658 Harrogate bypass near Follifoot at 7.30am on February 10 but he was spared a prison sentence and ordered to complete 100 hours unpaid community service at York Crown Court last Friday.

Judge Scott Wolstenholme said Burgan, who has appeared in the Sunday Times Rich List and operates around 50 care homes, was a man of exemplary character with an unblemished record and he accepted there was a "sudden, severe and unexpected" deterioration in the road conditions on that fateful day.

"But not only did your careless driving cause the death of Mrs Scott, a wife, mother and grandmother, you also caused serious injury to her daughter and to yourself," he said.

"However it seems to me that almost any motorist could have skidded across the road into another vehicle and it is only fate the driver in front of you skidded off into the verge.

"I accept a community penalty is appropriate for you but I have to warn you if you fail to complete that work you will be brought back here before the court."

Emotional statement

York Crown Court heard an emotional statement from the victim, Diane Scott's husband Jack, of Bradford, who told the court how "his heart had died" the day his 44-year-old partner of 21 years had tragically been killed after being struck by Burgan's Audi R8.

Mr Scott said later informing his then 10-year-old daughter of her mother's death, who was a passenger in Mrs Scott's Suzuki Grand Vitara at the time of the accident, had been the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.

The court heard how on the day of the accident there had been a period of severe icy weather and some significant snowfall across the Harrogate district.

Prosecutor Ahmed Bashir said the collision site, located on the brow of a hill near to where two lanes merge into one, had not been gritted by North Yorkshire County Council as the temperature had been forecast above freezing.

He said: "There was no snow on the road except for isolated patches of slush and this was apparently in the area of the collision.

"Mr Burgan's Audi R8 was travelling eastbound and another driver recalls being overtaken by him before she reached a point of slush.

Community penalty

"She said she was concerned that the defendant had overtaken her at that point because she had thought she was going fast enough for the conditions and she had slowed to 50mph.

"She saw the Audi spin around 90 degrees coming to rest in a verge.

"I accept a community penalty is appropriate for you but I have to warn you if you fail to complete that work you will be brought back here before the court."

York Crown Court heard an emotional statement from the victim, Diane Scott's husband Jack, of Bradford, who told the court how "his heart had died" the day his 44-year-old partner of 21 years had tragically been killed after being struck by Burgan's Audi R8.

Mr Scott said later informing his then 10-year-old daughter of her mother's death, who was a passenger in Mrs Scott's Suzuki Grand Vitara at the time of the accident, had been the hardest thing he had ever done in his life.

The court heard how on the day of the accident there had been a period of severe icy weather and some significant snowfall across the Harrogate district.

Collision site

Prosecutor Ahmed Bashir said the collision site, located on the brow of a hill near to where two lanes merge into one, had not been gritted by North Yorkshire County Council as the temperature had been forecast above freezing.

He said: "There was no snow on the road except for isolated patches of slush and this was apparently in the area of the collision.

"Mr Burgan's Audi R8 was travelling eastbound and another driver recalls being overtaken by him before she reached a point of slush.

"She said she was concerned that the defendant had overtaken her at that point because she had thought she was going fast enough for the conditions and she had slowed to 50mph.

"She saw the Audi spin around 90 degrees coming to rest in a verge. It would appear Mr Burgan lost control when he hit the slush patch which led him to strike Mrs Scott's vehicle coming westbound."

In his defence, Mr Burgan's barrister Richard Clews said his client had claimed he was driving within the speed limit - 60mph -and there was no prior warning of the slush meaning there was nothing he could have done to prevent losing control of his vehicle.

Injuries

Another vehicle ahead of Mr Burgan, who suffered a tear to his liver and a shadow on his lung in the accident, had also lost control at the same location just seconds before.

Mr Clews said: "Mr Burgan wants it to be known that he is desperately sorry for what happened.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if he had looked at things a little bit differently that morning this tragedy might not have happened."

Mr Burgan was disqualified from driving for two years and ordered to pay £1,200 court costs.