Woman convicted of fatally mowing down lover granted an appeal on conviction and sentence

A jury found a woman murdered her lover by running him down with his own car — but a court has ruled she can have one more shot at freedom.

A woman sentenced to at least 18 years in jail for murder will have the opportunity to appeal.

In 2019, a jury found Janice Bufton hit and killed her partner Colin Snooks with his own car in October 2017 after he told her he was leaving her.

She applied on Monday to appeal, which was granted by judge Chris Maxwell.

Justice Maxwell said he would allow an appeal both on conviction and sentence.

A bench of three appeal judges will rule if the jury should not have found her guilty, or if the sentencing judge punished her too harshly.

Senior prosecutor Chris Boyce told the court on Monday that Ms Bufton’s version of events — that her lover jumped in front of the car himself — was “plainly incorrect and untrue”.

He said a man who saw the whole thing told police Ms Bufton drove the car at Mr Snooks.

He said that man’s account showed “complete alignment with the objective evidence”.

“We know that the car didn’t skid prior to impact,” he said.

Ms Bufton’s lawyer Richard Edney told the court it was at issue whether she “consciously, voluntarily and deliberately drove the car” in order to commit a murder.

The appeal will be heard at a later date.

Originally published as Woman convicted of fatally mowing down lover granted an appeal on conviction and sentence