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An Albanian bus driver sobbed, 'I've killed her,' after mowing down a property executive outside London Victoria Station, a court has heard.

Mirsime Berisha, 49, was driving a double-decker outside the busy station when it hit Kathleen Finnegan, 56, on January 29, 2024.

Southwark Crown Court was told her driving 'fell below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver' in the run up to the crash.

Berisha then started screaming after the bus hit Ms Finnegan and claimed the vehicle's handbrake had failed to work, before fainting in her seat 'several times', jurors were told.

But prosecutors said forensic collision investigators found 'no mechanical defects with the vehicle which could have been a contributory factor to the collision'.

Berisha - who was assisted in court by an Albanian interpreter - denied one count of causing death by dangerous driving.

Footage played in court showed the parked No13 bus driven by Berisha suddenly veering diagonally at speed.

Property executive Ms Finnegan was run down by the bus before it crashed into a bus shed.

Mirsime Berisha, pictured in court in October, sobbed, 'I've killed her', after mowing down a property executive outside London Victoria Station, a court has heard

Property executive Kathleen Finnegan, pictured, was run down by the bus before it crashed into a bus shed

Prosecutor Frederick Hookway told the court: 'There is no dispute the defendant was driving that bus.

'There is no dispute Ms Finnegan was killed having been hit by that bus.

'The central issue in this case is whether the driving is not only careless, as the defendant admits, but also dangerous.'

Witnesses recounted Berisha repeatedly shouting, 'I've killed her, she is under the bus,' and, 'the handbrake didn't work, the bus didn't stop', after the fatal crash.

One witness said in a statement that the Albanian was in 'distress' and even fainted several times, only to come back to consciousness and repeat the words: 'I've killed her.'

Mr Hookway insisted the bus possessed no relevant defects and added: 'There were no contributory environmental factors, it was overcast, but dry and clear.

'There were no defects in the road surface, meaning there were no potholes.'

And he said further testing later revealed 'the bus driven by the defendant would not have been able to move from rest or continue driving while the park brake was engaged'.

He told jurors: 'Though the incident was short-lived, the error of judgment was so substantial as to be dangerous.

'The defendant struck the stationary vehicle parked in front, failed to orientate her steering to the direction of the road, and drove on a diagonal into a bus shelter.

'She failed to stop during that manoeuvre, in doing so, crashing into the deceased Ms Finnegan before colliding with a bus shelter.'

Ms Finnegan's family and friends wept as the prosecutor outlined the facts of the case.

The trial continues.