Jailed, killer driver who was using two phones
A DRIVER who ploughed into and killed a pensioner while using two mobile phones was jailed for four years yesterday.
Ryan Freeth, 26, was streaming music on the one and using the second to text and call friends on his way to play football when he struck Leslie Marks.
The 66- year - old had enjoyed Sunday lunch with his family before being knocked over into the path of other vehicles and fatally hurt.
Freeth drove on a short distance then deleted a number of calls and messages which he knew would be ‘incriminating,’ said Judge Simon Ward. He added: ‘Y our driving was very dangerous.
‘You were driving at an excessive speed and using two mobiles. Y our awareness was severely impaired.’
When the phones were analysed, officers found that several calls had been made by Freeth around the time of the collision in Amblecote, near Dudley, West Midlands.
Malcolm Morse, prosecuting, said Freeth had been ‘juggling’ between two phones for minutes while driv - ing his Vauxhall Corsa at an unsuitable speed in the 30mph zone.
‘He must have been using the mobiles and it was clear his atten - tion overall had been distracted,’ he told Wolverhampton Crown Court.
One witness said the Vauxhall had been going so fast it was a ‘blur’ and it looked like a paper bag was being thrown in the air when he hit the pensioner, Mr Morse said. After Freeth’s arrest, he insisted he had been driving at around 35mph. Talbir Singh, defending , admitted there had been a text and Freeth had tried to make two calls on one phone while the other was being used for music.
‘He will have to shoulder the burden of what happened for the rest of his life,’ said Mr Singh.
The court heard that Mr Marks’ family described him as ‘lovely, kind, gentle and generous’, and they had been badly affected by his death.
Freeth, of Stourbridge, W est Midlands, admitted causing death by dangerous driving in November 2015. He was sentenced to four years and five months and banned from driving for five years.
With its End the Mobile Madness campaign, the Daily Mail has led the way in highlighting the dangers posed by drivers who use their mobile phones at the wheel.
END THE MOBILE MADNESS