Speeding City worker caused crash victim to lose her baby
A CITY worker whose ‘suicidal’ driving caused a woman to lose her unborn child when he crashed into her car was jailed yesterday.
Leroy Margolis, 29, was travelling at nearly 70mph in a 50mph area when he tried to overtake a lorry in the rain.
He lost control after clipping a traffic island near a staggered junction and ploughed into a VW Polo in which Louise Abbott, 28, was a passenger.
The nursery assistant, who was 25 weeks pregnant, suffered serious internal injuries and gave birth to her daughter the next day. The girl, called Layla, had serious head wounds and didn’t survive.
Mrs Abbott was unable to have a caesarian because of the severity of her pelvic injuries. Doctors believe she may have survived because Layla took the brunt of the impact. Mrs Abbott wept in court yesterday as Margolis, a chartered accountant for Lloyds Bank, was jailed for two years for dangerous driving following a trial. Judge Jonathan Cooper told him: ‘ The impact has been very considerable indeed. There’s not one day [Mrs Abbott] doesn’t contemplate the loss of the life, imagining how her baby’s life would have been.
After the hearing, Mrs Abbott said: ‘I would like my story to be a lesson to those who engage in dangerous driving. It is an example of the devastation it can cause people unlucky enough to be victims.’
Cambridge Crown Court heard how the crash happened in ‘atrocious conditions’ just before 8pm on October 1, 2016, on the A1307 in Linton, Cambridgeshire.
Mrs Abbott, of Braintree, Essex, was being driven to a wedding party when they were hit by Margolis driving his Volvo in the opposite direction.
Prosecuting, Edward Renvoize, described his actions as ‘impatient and impetuous’. Witness Andrew Dixon, a former driving instructor, said: ‘It was suicidal driving as far as I was concerned. All I remember thinking is “There’s no way he’s going to make it and if there’s a car coming the other way, this is not going to be good”.’
Mrs Abbott, married to graphic designer Laurence, was also told she might never get pregnant again because one of her ovaries had been ‘rendered useless’ in the crash. But happily last month she gave birth to a girl named Avery.
Margolis, of Wandsworth, south-west London, was also banned from driving for three years.
He would have received a longer sentence but the court heard he helped to care for his disabled sister.
‘Impatient and impetuous’