I am deeply sorry.. and I will carry that guilt with me forever
£45m Lotto winner after car collision that killed Jane, 75
Road in North Cockerington, close to the Reglers’ home
EUROMILLIONS winner Matt Topham said he will “carry guilt with him forever” after killing a pensioner in a car crash.
Topham, 31, spoke out after being banned from driving over the head-on collision in which Jane Regler, 75, died.
The £45million jackpot winner had turned around to retrieve his son’s teddy from a footwell in his BMW X6 when he hit a Ford Fiesta being driven by Jane’s husband Rodney, 78, who was badly injured.
Motorsports fan Topham said in a statement: “I cannot begin to express the remorse I feel. I am deeply sorry for my actions and the devastating impact that they have had on the Regler family, and I will carry that guilt with me forever.”
Topham, who won the jackpot with wife Cassey in 2012, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving and was this week cleared of two more serious offences.
Judge Catrina Sjolin Knight gave him a 16-week suspended jail sentence and one-year driving ban.
He will have to wear an electronic tag and obey a 7pm to 7am curfew for the next three months.
Police released bodyworn camera footage of him at the accident scene on Christmas Day 2019.
RUINED
Topham appeared visibly upset and was hugged by an officer. Topham then told him: “It’s just a simple mistake to help my son and I f ***** up someone’s life.”
Judge Sjolin Knight praised grieving Mr Regler for being “extremely dignified” in the victim impact statement he gave.
The widower said: “No matter what happens, nothing can bring my wife back to me and I go through each day knowing this.
“It has ruined my life and I’m sure it has ruined the other driver’s too but I will not let this dictate my life.
“I bear the driver no malice but I will never forgive him for what he has done to me and my family.”
The fatal accident happened on a road near the Reglers’ home in North Cockerington, Lincs.
Prosecutors argued Topham’s driving was “dangerous” because he had taken his eyes off the road for up to three seconds. But jurors disagreed after hearing Topham was only distracted for a “split second”.
Lincoln crown court was told his two-year-old son’s scream was so piercing that it made him “go crazy”.
Following the case, Detective Insp Joanna Reeves, of Lincolnshire Police, said: “The right thing for Matthew Topham to do would have been to find a safe place to pull over. He didn’t do that and he now lives with the consequences.”
Nothing can bring my wife back. It has ruined my life. I bear no malice but can never forgive him
RODNEY REGLER IN VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT READ OUT IN COURT