Wife of singer Rag'n'Bone Man is spared jail after smashing into mother and her three children when she tried to overtake tractor in her Range Rover

Published: 12:39, 29 June 2026 | Updated: 12:56, 29 June 2026 The wife of singer Rag'n'Bone Man was spared jail today after she smashed her Range Rover into a mother and her three children. Zoe Graham, 38, was rushing to pick up her two sons when she attempted to overtake a tractor on a 'dangerous' stretch of road in East Sussex. But she failed to see three cars in front of the tractor and, crossing double white lines in the centre of the carriageway, she crashed into a Ford car turning right. The Ford driver, Samantha Keen, was taking her two daughters and son to an animal rescue centre in East Sussex when she was hit side on by the Range Rover travelling at around 55mph. Miss Keen immediately lost consciousness as the car was thrown around the road after the impact of the crash, which happened in August 2023. She described how everything went 'white then black' and when she came to she couldn't feel her legs and was in severe pain. Miss Keen, whose husband had died the previous year, screamed for help and begged two off-duty paramedics who attended not to let her die as her children would be made orphans. The court heard she was screaming in terror at the fear of leaving her children who were crying and screaming from shock. She said: 'Her eldest child asked if mummy was going where daddy was.' Zoe Graham, 38, was rushing to pick up her two sons when she attempted to overtake a tractor on a 'dangerous' stretch of road in East Sussex  Graham is pictured with her singer husband Rag'n'Bone Man, aka Rory Graham, at The Music Industry Trust Awards in November 2024 Rachel Beckett, prosecuting, said Miss Keen was suffering severe pain in her right hip all the way down her leg. She said Graham was in a rush to pick up her children when she saw a slow-moving tractor in front. Miss Beckett said Graham pulled out to get past but did not realise there were three cars in front of it, with one turning right. Miss Keen suffered a broken ankle, cuts to her face and head, damage to her right hip and other bruises and cuts. Her three children suffered cuts and bruises to their faces, heads, arms and legs but were otherwise physically unharmed. Hove Crown Court heard how the whole family had been left mentally 'traumatised' by the horrendous crash with her three children having to undergo counselling for PTSD. Miss Keen had to wear an ankle boot and use crutches for months and suffered concussion and post-concussion migraines for a long time, leaving her unable to properly care for her children. In a victim impact statement, she said the smash had a huge impact on the family and still affected them nearly three years later. Miss Keen said: 'They [the children] thought they were going to lose their only living parent. We had to cancel our holiday, losing our deposits. I was too injured to look after the children. 'I've been left with physical and mental injuries and have had to give up kick-boxing and other sports. 'My car, which is the only expensive thing I owned which I bought with the little I got after my husband died, is wrecked.' Today, Graham, who married singer Rory Graham in 2021, was handed a 12-week suspended prison sentence. Graham broke down in tears in court as she told how sorry she was for causing the serious crash. Sobbing uncontrollably, she told Judge David Rennie she was late to pick up her boys and had seen the slow-moving tractor in front of her and thought it safe to overtake. She said she had suffered nine years of domestic abuse from an ex-partner who had deliberately made her late to pick up her children in the past, which caused her anxiety about being late. In floods of tears, Graham said: 'I am very sorry. Because what we, my children and I went through - nine years of domestic violence and my ex would make me late. 'I was a little bit late to pick my boys up and they suffer from anxiety. I indicated and I hit her. I've never hurt anyone in my life and never would. I feel so sorry because my children went through anxiety as well.' Supported in court by her father, she said: 'I would never want to put anyone through this. I understand what children go through, as I am also a mother. I'm just so sorry this happened because I would never mean to cause anyone any harm.' The crash happened on a busy road near Ringmer, East Sussex on August 9 2023. It was the summer holidays and Miss Keen was taking her two daughters and son to visit Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare, which cares for a huge number of abandoned animals including horses, dogs, cats, rabbits and others. The conditions on the long straight road were good but the route undulates up and down making visibility an issue so there are double white lines in parts forbidding overtaking. The court heard Graham, of Heathfield, was driving her Range Rover at a little over 50mph when she saw a slow-moving tractor in front of her and indicated to overtake in contravention of the double white lines. She said she did not realise there were three cars in front of the tractor and attempted to pass them all. However, the front car, driven by Miss Keen, was attempting to turn right into the animal rescue centre and was struck in the side. After the crash, Graham was arrested by police officers and interviewed about the crash. Graham was initially charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving under her maiden name of Beardsall. She later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of causing serious injury by careless driving. Both charges can be punished by a prison term, but the judge listened to the remorse shown by Graham before deciding to suspend the sentence for 18 months. Judge Rennie said the double white lines in the centre of a road meant it was inherently 'dangerous' to overtake. He told Graham: 'I accept this is wholly out of character. All this was avoidable if you had driven in the way you were supposed to. I'm going to put you out of your misery, you're not going to prison today.' The judge said he understood she was very remorseful and accepted Graham realised the huge impact of the crash on the mother and children as she herself is a mother. Judge Rennie said: 'This is a horrendous case where two families have been left traumatised by events.' He told Graham the suspended sentence meant that if she was to breach it there would be serious consequences. He said: 'If you breach the suspended sentence you could be sending yourself to prison.' Graham broke down in tears in court as she told how sorry she was for causing the serious crash Known for his baritone voice, Rory Graham, 41, from East Sussex first exploded onto the music scene in 2016 with his hit single 'Human'. His first album was released in 2017 and became the fastest selling debut by a make artist in the UK for the decade. At the 2017 Brit Awards, he was named Brightish Breakthrough Act. He also received a further Brit Award for Best British Single with the title track, in 2018. Rory met Zoe in 2020, who was working in a cafe at a rugby club near his home in Heathfield. The pair met just months after he had split from his wife Beth Rouy after just six months of marriage. Rory and Zoe married in 2021. Rory threw himself into helping Zoe at the club, serving hot bacon baps and other food to rugby fans. In a podcast, the 'Human' hitmaker singer described how he wanted to help Zoe's two teenage sons who were heavily involved in the rugby club. The singer was previously with Beth for 10 years and have a son, Reuben, who they now jointly parent. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. 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