He may as well have been driving with his eyes closed

Judge’s verdict on trucker who killed mum and 3 children while distracted by mobile

A LORRY driver who killed a mother and three children because he was distracted by his mobile at the wheel was jailed for just ten years yesterday.

Tracy Houghton, 45, her sons Ethan, 13, and 11-year- old Josh, and stepdaughter Aimee Goldsmith, 11, were killed when Tomasz Kroker ploughed into stationary traffic at 50mph.

Footage from inside his lorry cab showed Kroker, 30, scroll through music on his mobile for seven seconds before the crash.

Mrs Houghton’s Vauxhall Corsa was shunted under the trailer of another lorry and crushed to a third of its size.

Outside court yesterday Aimee’s mother Kate Goldsmith fought back tears as she appealed for motorists to ‘make a personal commitment to stop using mobile phones while driving and make our roads safer for everyone’.

She said: ‘The ten-year sentence will not ease our pain and suffering, nor do we believe it will send a strong enough message to those who lack the self-restraint to not use a mobile phone when driving.’

Mrs Goldsmith, from Dunstable, Bedfordshire, said Kroker had turned his vehicle into a ‘lethal weapon’ and she felt as though her daughter had been murdered.

Weeks after the August 10 crash, the Mail launched a campaign for tougher penalties against drivers who flout the law on using mobile phones behind the wheel. Ministers have since proposed doubling the fixed penalty punishment.

Yesterday the judge jailing the Polish haulier said his driving was so poor ‘ he might as well have had his eyes closed’.

Footage from two dashboard cameras – one pointing into Kroker’s cab and one looking at the road ahead – showed the driver look at his phone, then glancing up just a split-second before impact.

The horrified driver then drops the phone and grabs the steering wheel to prepare for the impact.

The lorry smashed into a hatchback, sending it upside down, before hitting a small van.

Mrs Houghton’s partner Mark Goldsmith was with his son Jake, 13, in his Vauxhall Zafira behind the Corsa as they travelled back to Dunstable from a camping trip. His car was shunted into the back of the Corsa containing his daughter, Mrs Houghton and her sons.

Kroker, who became a father five months before the crash and lived with his partner in Andover, Hampshire, claimed at the scene that his brakes had failed and went on to tell his company: ‘Had radio on. Not tuning it. Not on phone.’

Just hours before the pile-up he had signed a declaration with his employer promising not to use a phone at the wheel.

When police confronted him with the footage he admitted he had been looking at his phone. Charles Ward- Jackson, prosecuting, said: ‘It is a particularly distressing feature that the two surviving members of the family were in the car behind, and a 13-year-old boy was forced to witness at close range the deaths of four members of close family.’

The barrister said Kroker would have had an ‘excellent view of the road ahead’ had he been looking.

Jailing him, Mrs Justice McGowan said she ‘wholeheartedly’ supported relatives’ calls for greater awareness of the dangers of using mobile phones at the wheel.

She told Reading Crown Court: ‘One can only hope that the publicity surrounding this case will bring greater awareness of the consequences of using a phone, not just to text or to call, but also a phone to play music or use some form of navigation software while driving.’

Kroker pleaded guilty to four counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one count of causing serious injury by dangerous driving last month. He was disqualified from driving for seven years.

Outside court, Adam Pearson, whose back was broken when his Mazda was shunted upside-down on to the embankment, said the penalty for death by dangerous driving needed to be increased.

Mr Pearson, of Milton Keynes, said: ‘As a society we have to start to view mobile phone use while driving in the same way that we view driving while under the influence of drink and drugs. It cannot be socially accepted.’

Jake Goldsmith, who witnessed his sister Aimee’s death, suffers post-traumatic stress disorder, his mother said in a statement.

She said their nights were now ‘plagued with nightmares and broken sleep’. Detective Sergeant Gavin Collier, of Thames Valley Police, said: ‘The most tragic element of this incident is that it was avoidable.’

The RAC foundation’s Steve Gooding said that the organisation had called for a ‘drive-safe mode’ on phones to limit distractions.

EU rules mean Kroker could be allowed to stay in the UK after his release. Officials must look at whether offenders are a threat to public security, public policy or public health. Part of the test is based on length of legal residence in the UK, as they gain permanent right of residence after five years.

Kroker is thought to have moved to the UK between 2000 and 2007.

The Home Office said: ‘All foreign nationals offenders given a custodial sentence are considered for deportation, including those from countries within the European Union.’ Comment

‘He might as well have had his eyes closed’