A DRIVER involved in a fatal collision with an elderly dementia sufferer as she stood in the middle of a pitch black Purbeck road in the early hours said she appeared out of nowhere “like a ghost”.

Veronica Stoneman, aged 83, died on the A351, within half-a-mile of her Binnegar home, near Wareham, after the collision with a car driven by Kevin Webber.

She was well-dressed, and in her confused state she may have been heading to the nearby home of her daughter to watch the Royal Wedding that took place later that day, an inquest heard.

Mr Webber, 29, who lived in Wool at the time of the accident on April 29 last year, told Bournemouth Coroner’s Court he was driving to an all-night garage and then on to meet a friend when the collision happened.

“The best way I could describe it was like a ghost,” he said. “Something just appeared, then disappeared.”

Mr Webber, who said he presumed he’d struck a deer, did not stop at the scene. Instead he drove almost two miles with a smashed windscreen to the entrance of the Purbeck School, Wareham, to meet his friend.

It was only then when he called police and was told by the operator – who was unaware of the nature of the accident at that time – that it could have been a deer.

He was arrested on suspicion of driving offences shortly after the 12.45am collision and told police he had carried on driving because he’d been shocked and assumed it could have only been a deer.

Another motorist, who drove over the lifeless body of Mrs Stoneman seconds after the fatal collsion, stopped and dialled 999.

Mrs Stoneman had been suffering from dementia since 2009. Police evidence showed Mr Webber was not exceeding the 50mph limit nor on his phone.

Tests later showed he had not drunk any alcohol that night.

Coroner Sherriff Payne ruled she died “as a result of the impact on the road”.