by Julia Roberts

A milkman who killed an 87-year-old woman when he reversed his float into her has been ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work.

Judge Charles Macdonald QC told Anthony Eldered that he was responsible for a "very brief failure of look-out" when he struck Esther Castaneda in Tonbridge in 2008.

Mrs Castaneda, who was celebrating her birthday that day, was crossing Hadlow Road near the junction with Garden Road when it happened.

The vehicle was described at Maidstone Crown Court as a van-based milkfloat conversion in which a cooler box was fitted at the back, making its rear view mirror ineffective. There was also limited visibility to the sides.

Just before 10am on November 12 Eldered was parked on the milkfloats's offside - the wrong side of the road - outside number 40 Hadlow Road.

He planned to reverse along the road for about 35m until he was able to turn right into Garden Road. Eldered set off in a low speed and hit Mrs Castaneda after just 15m. She fell to the ground and died soon after.

The 45-year-old, of Norman Close, Kemsing, admitted causing death by careless driving. He was also banned from driving for a year.

Imposing the community order, Judge Macdonald said Eldered's careless driving arose from "momentary inattention". He added that the opportunity for Eldered to see the elderly woman in his left-side wing mirror as he carried out his manoeuvre was "very short".

Judge Macdonald said: "He would not be expected to look half sideways over his left shoulder as he drove backwards. He also had to look out for traffic ahead which he needed to be aware of.

"His manoeuvre was not inherently risky and there was no excessive speed. It was a very brief failure of look-out and that was the carelessness in this case."

Eldered has since lost his job.