Flight attendant killed by driver who sent one-word text just seconds before

Flight attendant Cinzia Ceravolo, right, died after she was struck by driver Kieran Cooney, left. (Pictures: Liverpool Echo)

A flight attendant was knocked down and killed by a driver seconds after he sent a one-word text message.

Cinzia Ceravolo, 36, died four days after she was struck by 31-year-old Kieran Cooney’s Ford Focus in Liverpool, shortly after 11.15pm on August 22 last year.

Ms Ceravolo, originally from Italy, was a Ryanair flight steward and was on her way home from Liverpool John Lennon Airport after a working on a flight from Dublin.

Yesterday, Liverpool Crown Court heard that Cooney was driving along Hale Road towards his partner’s house when he hit Ms Ceravolo, as she crossed the road.

Emergency services attended and officers described Cooney as being in a ‘distressed state’ and ‘pacing’.

Ms Ceravolo was taken to Aintree Hospital, before being transferred to the Walton Centre where she later died from multiple injuries.

Cooney was tested for drugs at the scene and found to have a metabolite of cocaine in his system and was over the limit.

A photo of Ms Ceravolo and a campaign poster calling for Hale Road to be made safer at the scene of the crash(Picture: Liverpool Echo)

Henry Riding, prosecuting, told the court Cooney had ‘taken a line of cocaine’ at a Coldplay concert in London on the Saturday before the crash.

However, a fitness drug test, designed to reflect zero tolerance, showed the drugs would not have affected his driving.

But an investigation found the Cooney had used his phone to text seconds before he struck Ms Ceravolo.

And moments before this the dad-of-one had received two text messages from his partner. One was about their child’s nappy, to which he sent the reply ‘really’.

The court heard that this meant Cooney was distracted and did not see Ms Ceravolo.

Mr Riding said Ms Ceravolo may have been looking at her phone while she crossed the road.

He said a witness had seen Ms Ceravolo crossing the road ‘more slowly then expected’ and ‘slightly diagonal’ at the crossing.

Ms Ceravolo moved to the UK from her native Italy (Picture: Liverpool Echo)

Mr Riding added: ‘Ms Ceravolo had requested a taxi to collect her from that area. However, the taxi driver arrived earlier and after waiting departed.

‘There is high probability the victim was on her phone to see where the taxi driver was, but we do not know for sure.’

The court was told it was the responsibility of the driver to be aware of their surroundings.

Investigations found Cooney was driving at around 36 to 37mph, within the road’s 40mph speed limit.

The road was clear at the time and lit up by streetlights and Cooney’s car did not have any defects.

The court heard Cooney received a caution in 2013 for possession of cocaine and in March 2021 was stopped by police for being ‘not in proper control of a motor vehicle’.

He was found to have a phone in his hand while driving, which he said he was using as a sat nav. As a result he attended an driving safety awareness course.

Mr Riding read out a victim impact statement on behalf of Ms Ceravolo’s mum, Marisa Orlando, in which she described her daughter as ‘the flower we wished for’, who was now ‘so far away’.

Cooney was jailed for three years (Picture: Liverpool Echo)

Ms Orlando said hundreds of people attended a service for her daughter in Italy and explained how Ms Ceravolo helped three boys in the UK by donating her organs.

She added: ‘[Cooney] did not only destroy Cinzia’s life but that of a whole family, and many friends and relatives mourn her because she was a special human being, a generous woman who gave life to three English boys with her donated organs.’

Ms Ceravolo had moved to the UK due to her love of English literature and music and to make a career here.

Christopher Stables, defending, described Cooney as ‘hardworking’ and a ‘family man’.

He said his client ‘can not stop thinking about the impact this has on the victim’s family’, cannot sleep and has become withdrawn. He added the dad-of-one is ‘deeply remorseful’.

Judge Andrew Menary KC jailed Cooney, of Blackrod Avenue in Speke, to three years in prison for death by dangerous driving and was banned from driving for six and half years.

Floral tributes to Ms Ceravolo on the fence at John Lennon Airport (Picture: Liverpool Echo)

The judge said Cooney caused the death of Ms Ceravolo due to being distracted by ‘mundane messages’ he had received and the one he sent.

He said the only sentence he could pass was immediate imprisonment.

Judge Menary said: ‘The loss to her family is enormous. She was a capable woman with a zest for life. Ms Ceravolo had come to this country to pursue her career and experience the culture and her intelligent interests.’

The judge also warned others against using phones while driving, adding: ‘There is no excuse for using a mobile phone while driving to make calls, send messages or look at social media.’

He said: ‘If people think it won’t happen to them, they may want to think and to look at this case and see how a decent, hard working man made a terrible consequence.’