Jail for driver in M4 queue death crash

A DRIVER who ploughed into the back of queuing motorway traffic at 70mph, killing a pregnant mother and her unborn child, has been jailed for three years.

Craig Scott, 51, inset, had been using his handsfree mobile phone seconds before the smash and failed to brake prior to hitting a silver Peugeot on the M4 near Port Talbot, South Wales, on November 29, 2016.

Rebecca Evans, 27, who was eight months pregnant with daughter Cari, was in the front passenger seat and died at the scene while her two-year-old son Cian had to be airlifted to hospital where he was treated for a skull fracture and two broken legs.

The prosecution alleged the defendant was “quite simply avoidably and dangerously distracted”, but Scott, of Heath, Cardiff, who pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving at an earlier hearing, denied this. Yesterday, after deliberating for two hours and 10 minutes, a jury of seven men and five women found him guilty of causing Ms Evans’ death and Cian’s serious injuries by dangerous driving. Sentencing him at Swansea Crown Court, Judge Keith Thomas said: “The sole cause of this accident was your failure to keep a proper level of concentration on the road ahead. “That lack of judgment was not momentary or short-lived.” In a victim impact statement which was read to the court, Alex Evans said his partner of nine years and their unborn daughter had been taken away from him.