Soldier scrabbling for fallen satnav killed father in crash
‘Mumbling to himself’
A YOUNG soldier killed a father of three in a head-on smash as he scrabbled to retrieve a satnav that had fallen by his feet.
Irish Guardsman Conor Sansom was driving his Fiat 500 when the device fell off the windscreen.
Instead of asking his girlfriend to lean over from the passenger seat to get it, the 21-year-old soldier ducked down, losing sight of the road for up to seven seconds. He was ‘driving blind’ as he reached into the footwell.
The Fiat swerved into the path of a car being driven by Paul Stevens, 49, which rebounded into another vehicle. Mr Stevens was taken to hospital with multiple injuries where he was pronounced dead.
The businessman’s father Brian was treated for life-threatening injuries, including a ruptured diaphragm and a collapsed lung.
Paul Stevens’ daughters, Samantha Stevens and Katie Brown – who was 23-weeks pregnant – escaped with minor injuries from the early-morning collision on the
Jailed: Guardsman Sansom 60mph A133 in Weeley, near Clacton-on-Sea in Essex.
Sansom was jailed for four years after a jury found him guilty of causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Judge Jonathan Seely told him: ‘In addition to a prison sentence you must live with the burden of having caused the death of an innocent person for the rest of your life.
‘If your life is changed forever, that is greatly overshadowed by the impact of your actions on the victim’s family. It is clear Paul Stevens was a wonderful man. It is fully because of your actions his life was cruelly cut short.’
Miss Brown, who has since had her baby, revealed she has depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in a victim impact statement that was read out at Chelmsford Crown Court.
She said: ‘What I saw that day will scar me forever. No one should have to watch their father die, especially not in such an awful way.’ Mr Stevens, of Elmstead Market, near Colchester, was driving his family to a car boot sale on February 20 last year when his Vauxhall Agila was hit.
It then smashed into a Hyundai Getz, the occupants of which had minor injuries.
During the trial the jury heard a statement from his father, who said: ‘I saw a car, which was travelling in the opposite direction, heading straight for us. I said words to the effect of “What is that idiot doing?”. I remember hearing and feeling a big crash as we were hit.’
Motorist Richard Paine, who arrived moments later, told the court: ‘The driver [of the Fiat 500] was clearly shaken and confused.
‘He was mumbling to himself, not to me. But I remember hearing him say “Oh my God” and from what I can extrapolate, mentioned he “shouldn’t have been messing around with it” and “shouldn’t have done it”.’
Prosecutor John Caudle told the jury: ‘Instead of leaving the sat nav there [on the floor] or asking his girlfriend to pick it up for him… he leaned over, down into the footwell to try to pick it up.
‘His head was below the level of the dashboard and he was…effectively driving blind.’
Sarah Vine, for father- of- one Sansom, of Clacton, said her client’s remorse was ‘unqualified’.
Because of the jail sentence he will be discharged from the Army.