Grandmother, 51, killed just yards from her doorstep when she was hit by a car while paying a taxi driver

Tragic: Mary Byrne, who was killed yards away her Bradford home as she payed for a cab which had brought her home from a friend's birthday party

A devoted grandmother run down while paying a minicab driver was killed just yards from her front door.
Mary Byrne was paying the driver who had just taken her home in Bradford, West Yorkshire, when another car slammed into the cab, pushing it on top of her.
She died just a few steps from the gates of a primary school where a poster by her seven-year-old granddaughter pleaded for drivers to be considerate.
Three men are in custody as police investigate the incident, which happened at 5.16pm on Saturday.
Ms Byrne, 51, had been returning from celebrating a friend's birthday when the cars collided just outside the semi-detached house where she had lived for 27 years.
She lived there with her partner Alan Jones, who is currently away in Kos and trying to get a flight home.
Neighbours who rushed to her aid said they saw her lying pinned beneath the taxi. One man, who did not wish to be named, said he heard the crash and ran straight out to help, but it was already too late.
Ms Byrne's four distraught children told how she devoted her life to them, her elderly parents and seven grandchildren.
Today she would have been visiting her daughter Sara Harrison at her nearby home and cooking up a batch of pancakes for her grandchildren, a Monday family tradition.
The pair worked together at a nearby nursing home. Ms Byrne was a cook, a profession which she passed on to her son, Ben Byrne, who also used to work with her at another nursing home.
She was also a dedicated daughter to her elderly parents, whom she visited several times a week, and who had encouraged her to pursue a love of cleaning and start her own business, which she said would be called Mary's Mops.

Ms Harrison said her mother fancied herself as 'a bit of a Kim and Aggie' and had seen a scooter she would use for her business venture.

Mr Byrne, her 24-year-old son, said: 'She loved us all. She just loved her grandkids and all of us, she just worried about us all the time. She took her grandchildren everywhere.'
Eldest daughter Sam Rees, 33, said: 'She loved us, but whatever love she had for us, you could times that by ten for the grandkids.

Bitter irony: Ms Byrne was killed close to school gates which had been decorated with a poster by her granddaughter pleading for drivers to be considerate

'She was a proper grandma, she was involved in as much as she could be. There wasn't a day when she wouldn't see some of her grandkids.'
Her son David Barrett, 21, had spoken to her as she waited for a taxi to take her home. He said she had had a good day and was looking forward to seeing her family over the weekend.
Ms Harrison received a phone call about the accident and had tried to call her mother, who liked to know what was happening on her street.
But when Ms Harrison realised the timing of the accident she said she just knew what had happened.

Busy road: The scene in Bradford, West Yorks, where Ms Byrne was mown down outside her home

Around a dozen brightly coloured bouquets have been neatly placed in the smashed garden wall of the semi-detached house next door to where Ms Byrne lived.
Many had cards or messages attached which paid tribute and questioned why she had been taken. One read: 'This should not have happened to a lovely person like you.'
Ms Byrne's children said the bitter irony of the accident happening so close to her grandaughter Grace's poster, drawn as part of a school road safety campaign at St John's School, had only served to make them more determined to campaign for traffic calming.
The school started a petition two weeks ago, which is part of a long running plea from neighbours for drivers not to speed on the road.

Tributes: Around a dozen brightly coloured bouquets have been neatly placed in the smashed garden wall of the semi-detached house next door to where Ms Byrne lived

Police say that incident involved a taxi and a black BMW, but officers want to speak to anyone who saw the BMW 3 Series and a blue Ford Focus.
A police spokesman said: 'The only occupant of the BMW, a 21-year-old man, has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and remains in police custody. Two other men, aged 19 and 17, have also been arrested on the same charge and remain in custody.'
Officers are not looking for anyone else, but anyone who saw the accident or vehicle in the area before it are asked to get in touch.

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