A pensioner was killed after her car crashed into the rear of a lorry parked illegally on the hard shoulder of a motorway slip road, a court heard.

Susan Mellor, of Sherbourne Drive, Maidstone, was wearing her night clothes when she ploughed into the Mercedes articulated truck in the early hours.

But although the 74-year-old mother was having anxiety issues it was not thought she was on a suicide mission at the time of the tragedy, Maidstone Crown Court was told.

“One of the questions you may have to consider if whether this was attempted suicide,” prosecutor Simon Connolly told the jury of eight women and four men.

“That, the Crown say, is speculation - really nothing more than guesswork. You will hear evidence from family and friends that would enable you to discount that.”

Czech lorry driver Jaroslav Horvath denies causing death by dangerous driving and an alternative charge of causing death by careless driving.

He had arrived on a ferry at Dover on December 6 2015. He was to tell police the crossing had been very rough and he felt unwell and tired and wanted to stop for a rest break.

Horvath, 40, said he could not find anywhere to park after he left Dover and drove off the M20 at junction seven near Detling to look for somewhere to stop.

He went down a slip road towards London and parked behind three other lorries parked illegally on the hard shoulder.

“The location is lit by street lighting,” said Mr Connolly. “The lorry had a reflective strip around the box at the back. It was completely on the hard shoulder, so it was not blocking either of the two lanes.

“The hard shoulder only starts part of the way down the slip road. There was only a little of the hard shoulder before the back of the lorry.”

Horvath went to sleep in the cab. His tachograph showed he had stopped at 1.54am.

Jurors were shown CCTV footage of Mrs Mellor’s Nissan Qashqai heading for the lorry and then disappearing at just after 5am. She died instantly.

Mr Connolly said she had made plans for the future. She had a grandchild on the way was meticulous by nature.

"The evidence suggests she did not set off with the idea of committing suicide. That would be far from her mind because of the circumstances" - Prosecutor Simon Connolly

“She was very organised in her life,” he continued. “Her home was left, for her, untidy. Clothes were left lying around. The dishes were not clean.

“Her nature was she would have been horrified at somebody seeing her in her night clothes. She was very uncomfortable at the idea.

“The evidence suggests she did not set off with the idea of committing suicide. That would be far from her mind because of the circumstances.

“If that was her plan, her nature was such that she would have written a note for her family. She was in charge of her neighbour’s animals at the time.

“She had pets of her own she was devoted to. She would have left detailed notes about what to do and how she wanted things taken care of.”

She told a friend she had suffered an anxiety attack that day but calmed down after speaking to her.

Mrs Mellor was due to undergo cognitive behaviour therapy the following week having sought help with problems from her GP.

It was not known what she was doing on the night of the collision. She was having the therapy in Sittingbourne and a theory was she was “doing a recce” to see what the journey was like.

She left a phone message for a friend saying: “You need to phone someone for the animals. I can’t stop shaking.”

Mr Connolly said vehicles were not allowed to park on motorways because it was inherently dangerous. The hard shoulder was intended to be a place of refuge.

“The defendant did make a choice to park there,” he said. “He was woken up in the early hours by the collision.”

Witnesses thought Mrs Mellor was doing over 50mph. It did not appear she attempted to brake.

The front of the car went under the back of the lorry and had to be cut open by the emergency services. It had no mechanical defects before the crash.

The trial continues.