Disabled woman, 50, jailed for killing cyclist, 77, treats friends to a Wetherspoon breakfast as she rebuilds life after early release from three-year prison sentence and prepares fight to clear her name

Auriol Grey had a spring in a step as she returned to her favourite riverside walk and visited the pub with her friends — two weeks after being freed from jail.

Friends have told of her ‘relief and enjoyment’ at being allowed home and ‘going out and about again’ following a long year behind bars.

Disabled Grey, 50, who is fighting to clear her name after winning the right to contest her conviction for causing the death of cyclist Celia Ward, 77, during a pavement row, knows her troubles are far from over.

She has to wait until a date to be fixed in May for her momentous hearing at the Appeal Court in London, which could see her vindicated and her conviction quashed.

Even so, speaking exclusively to MailOnline, one of her friends who visited Grey in jail said she was so ‘thrilled’ to be back that she treated a group of pals to breakfast at her nearby Wetherspoon, the Sandford House.

Grey’s close friend Roman Ramsey, 78, who picked her up from prison, said: ‘It’s in the middle of town and on the site of the old Post Office. She took some friends for breakfast and treated them.

‘She enjoys the occasional glass of wine but not at that time so they had cups of tea!’

He told how ‘prison food was alright’ but she missed cooking fresh food, particularly vegetables, explaining: ‘She likes roasting different vegetables and snacking on them and making soups. She didn’t get nice veg inside.

‘Auriol can look after herself and cook for herself but she does need a degree of care for certain things and is in the process of getting her carers back.

‘This can take time so now her friends are helping her with things like washing her hair. They are all very supportive.

‘She likes going out to the local cafes and shops and is out every day.

Mr Ramsey told how she has been struck by ‘how quiet’ home is at nights, remarking: ‘She keeps saying she can’t get used to it being so silent!

‘There was always so much noise inside. She was on the hospital wing because of her disability and sometimes drug addicts on methadone and having withdrawal symptoms would be banging around, screaming and shouting.’

Mr Ramsey revealed that whilst his close friend appears ‘physically OK’ he has seen a change in her during her 12 months being incarcerated.

He said: ‘I sense she can be a bit uptight and get stressed. You never know what is going on in her mind because she bottles it all up.

‘She is just waiting for her appeal and willing it to all be over but it is always in the back of her mind.

‘She was very upset at being jailed in the first place. Her friends, family and neighbours all thought it was totally ridiculous she had been convicted of manslaughter and given a custodial sentence.

‘She did too and has always maintained she is not a killer.’

He said for the time being Grey was ‘keeping a low profile’ and had been ‘advised by her barrister not to speak to media’.

Mr Ramsey also gave an insight into her life away from her cell on a hospital wing.

The retired stone mason said: ‘She is doing OK and getting out and about which she enjoys. She goes down to the library and to various places.

‘Everything is a 10-minute walk, very accessible, and she goes out on her own or with friends.

‘Exercise is very important to Auriol and she didn’t get much of that in prison. She loves walking down to the river and seeing all the ducks and greenery.’

Mr Ramsey, 78, who sometimes joins her for a stroll, said: ‘It’s a nice feeling for her to be out in the open again — it’s better than a prison yard with 20 feet of wire above you.’

He told of the jubilant scene at her apartment block when she was first freed, with friends and neighbours greeting her ‘with hugs and kisses’.

He added: ‘She was happy and relieved to be granted bail.

‘We were so pleased to have her back home. She should never have been in prison in the first place.’

Grey is said to be ‘keeping her head down’ as she makes the most of her unexpected early release on unconditional bail.

She is only too aware that if she loses her appeal she will immediately be returned to prison.

She has declined to consider any media interviews ‘at this current time’ in her intriguing case in which, despite the tragic death of a retired midwife, she has won sympathy and support from many people and not ‘the trolling and hate mail’ she had feared, a pal says.

When she was first freed, polite and well spoken Grey confirmed to MailOnline she was back home but declined to say how she was feeling or answer any questions, simply saying: ‘No comment.’

She lives alone in an adapted flat in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, where friends and neighbours rally around to help and support her.

The popular and much-loved resident lives at the gated complex owned and maintained by the Papworth Trust and needs carers to help with some daily activities.

Yet since leaving HMP Peterborough, she is still waiting for a team of care workers to resume their home visits, so her friends are helping her out in the meantime.

Grey has a cleft foot and walks with a supportive splint on her right leg. She is also partially blind and suffers with cerebral palsy that affects her mobility and coordination.

She likes to keep fit and active, going for daily walks and shopping trips as well as visits to the local library, cafes and pubs.

In a first picture of Grey since her release, taken by MailOnline this week, she appeared content as she strolled along a street, linking arms with a female neighbour.

An onlooker said: ‘It was so nice to see Auriol out and about again. She looks happy and clearly has a lot supportive people around her.

‘People in the town who know her are wishing her good luck for her appeal. Many here believe she should never have been locked up.’

Grey was jailed at Peterborough Crown Court in March last year to the fury of her friends, neighbours and some campaigners and disability welfare groups.

She was sentenced to three years after being found guilty of manslaughter for waving aggressively at grandmother Celia Ward, who went on to fall into the path of an oncoming car which killed her.

Grey was caught on CCTV gesticulating at the cyclist while shouting at her to ‘get off the f***ing pavement’ near her home in Huntingdon, in October 2020.

On March 21, this year, she walked free after being given the green light to challenge her conviction with no bail conditions imposed on her.

Another pal and neighbour Robert Reed said: ‘Auriol is fine and getting on with her daily life, and getting out and about.

‘She is thankful to the court for releasing her and thrilled to be home. She’s busy getting her finances and other things back in order.

‘But she is keeping her head down because the court still has to make a decision about her conviction.’

Caring friend and neighbour Carrie Tooke is among many who had welcomed Grey home and is now helping her out.

She previously described her as ‘an absolute darling’, telling MailOnline: ‘We’ve all lost sleep over what has happened to her.

‘I’ve been her neighbour for five years, and she is ever so sweet and kind.

‘She is properly disabled, and it was a really horrible, tragic accident but it was not Auriol’s fault.

‘The way the police and courts have treated her, charging her with manslaughter and finding her guilty, is an absolute disgrace.’

Grey has few surviving family members. Her mother Verna Grey, 87, from Sudbury, Suffolk, is not in the ‘best health’ and is understood not to have seen her daughter since her release.

She has a businessman brother-in-law living in Chiswick, West London. Her father and sister have both passed away.

A spokesperson for the Criminal Appeal Office said: ‘Auriol Grey has been granted unconditional bail pending her appeal against conviction.

‘She has been released from custody. It is anticipated the appeal will be listed for hearing in May 2024.’

Grey had denied manslaughter but was found guilty after a retrial.

She lost an appeal against her sentence in May last year but since instructed new lawyers who took her case to the Appeal Court in London.

Ben Rose, of Hickman & Rose solicitors, who are representing Grey, said: ‘Auriol Grey is an autistic, disabled person with impaired vision.

‘In a case such as this, the prosecution is required to prove to the jury that she intended to cause Mrs Ward harm, or fear of harm.

‘We say this did not happen, and as a result will ask the Court of Appeal when the case is heard in May to quash Ms Grey’s conviction.’