Killer who had just become a dad himself
TOMASZ Kroker is believed to have moved to the UK after 2000 and was joined by his Polish girlfriend in 2007.
The couple settled in rented accommodation in Newbury, Berkshire, with her brother and mother – ten miles from the scene of the multiple fatal crash he would later cause.
Records show that while living in the town Kroker set up his own haulage firm, listing himself as company director.
Neighbours yesterday described him as ‘friendly, but quiet’ and recalled him starting work at 6am daily.
One woman said: ‘They were a lovely young couple just starting out in life. They helped me with everything when I first moved in, just lovely. It’s a real shock and a shame that this has happened.’
Kroker later got a job working for a haulage firm in Andover, Hampshire. He and his girl- friend moved Andover, at the start of this year to make a new start ahead of the arrival of their first baby, who was born five months before the crash. They were said to be ‘excited to start a family together’.
There was no answer at their 1970s terraced house in Andover yesterday, but a neighbour said: ‘I’ve seen on the TV what happened – I had no idea at all it was him. He mostly worked nights. They never really spoke to anyone.’
Reading Crown Court heard 30-year- old Kroker was of previous good character. The court was told that he regularly drove on the stretch of the A34 in Oxfordshire where the crash happened.
According to the Polish National Road Safety Council, the country ranks among the worst in the Euorpean Union for traffic accidents.
In 2014, the country had an average of 8.3 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, compared with an EU average of 5.3. There were 382,998 road accidents in Poland that year, leading to the death of 3,202 people, while 42,545 were left injured.
Most of these fatal accidents – 2,255 – were caused by drivers, and speeding was most often the cause.