Distracted death crash driver jailed

A lorry driver has been jailed after he killed a pensioner while tuning in his radio.

Former soldier Joseph Smith, 30, had also been using his mobile phone to send and read text messages less than a minute before his car transporter ploughed into the back of queueing cars on the A30 in Bodmin, in May last year.

Smith, from Gillingham, smashed into the back of a car and then a van which then crashed into another vehicle and a 79-year-old in the first car was killed instantly.

Four other people were also injured.

He admitted causing death by dangerous driving at Truro Crown Court and has now been jailed for 32 months. Smith was also banned from driving for five years which will begin when he has served his sentence.