A bus driver has avoided jail for killing a pedestrian outside London Victoria railway station.

Olusofa Popoola, 61, accidentally accelerated into the back of a stationary bus, shunting it forward into Melissa Burr, from Rainham.

Ms Burr, 32, died from multiple injuries and the other bus driver, Diane Mathuranayagum, suffered a fractured eye socket in the incident in Terminus Place on the morning of August 10 2021.

Popoola, of Peckham, south-east London, admitted causing Ms Burr’s death by careless driving and said he had pressed the accelerator instead of the brake by mistake.

After a retrial, he was cleared of the more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury to the other driver.

On Friday, Judge Rebecca Trowler sentenced Popoola at the Old Bailey to 18 months imprisonment suspended for two years.

She said she had exercised her discretion in favour of suspending the sentence in light of the defendant’s “personal mitigation”.

She also said she had “regard to the impact on prisons with a very high prison population”.

“I am satisfied you failed to look ahead sufficiently and that certainly, at times, you were pressing the accelerator thinking it was the brake...”

Ms Burr’s family wept in court as the defendant walked free from the dock.

During the hearing, Judge Trowler said Popoola’s driving fell “just short of dangerous driving”.

She said: “Having considered carefully all the evidence in the trials, I am satisfied you failed to look ahead sufficiently and that certainly, at times, you were pressing the accelerator thinking it was the brake.

“I am also satisfied Melissa Burr made no contribution to her own death.”

Outlining the facts, Judge Trowler said Ms Burr had been travelling to work “as usual” on the morning of the incident.

Shortly before 8.30am, she was using a pedestrian walkway at the bus station and crossed towards the door of a 507 bus parked at its stop.

The judge told Popoola: “As she did so, that bus was shunted forward from behind by the bus that you were driving.

“Melissa Burr was hit by the front bus. The impact knocked her to the ground and the bus was then shunted forward by your bus and over Melissa’s body.

“She was later pronounced dead at the scene.”

In all, the judge said Popoola had lost control of his vehicle for around 10 seconds, even after he realised he had hit the bus in front.

Judge Trowler acknowledged the Burr family’s “distress and devastation”, saying the victim was “deeply loved”.

During two trials, jurors were shown distressing CCTV footage of the incident to assess how Popoola drove.

“She was the completely innocent victim of one man’s incompetent driving...”

Judge Trowler recognised the “dignity” Ms Burr’s family had shown in court as the moments of her death were described “over and over again”.

Reading statements in court, Ms Burr’s mother Trish and brother Graham Burr told how they struggled to comprehend how Popoola, an experienced professional driver, could have made such a mistake.

Mrs Burr said: “My daughter was not stupid. She was the completely innocent victim of one man’s incompetent driving.”

She told Popoola he was more fortunate because she had been handed a “life sentence” without her kind and talented daughter.

Mr Burr described being on holiday with his wife and children when he heard about the accident on the news.

He said he fell to his knees “crying, speechless, numb, confused and hurt”.

He described the impact as like a “china vase smashed into a thousand pieces” with some pieces lost and others not fitting back together as they should.

The court was told that Popoola had lost his job as a result of the accident and had since begun studying cyber security.

He was said to be “haunted” by the loss of life he caused.

As part of his sentence, Judge Trowler handed him 140 hours of unpaid work and a driving ban of three years.