A lorry driver who killed a mother and three children while distracted by his mobile phone has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Tomasz Kroker, 30, was scrolling through music selections on his phone when he ploughed into stationary traffic on the A34 near Newbury, Berkshire, on 10 August.
Tracy Houghton, 45, her sons Ethan, 13, and Joshua, 11, and her partner's daughter Aimee Goldsmith, 11, died instantly in the crash. The court heard that Kroker's attention was so poor that he 'might as well have had his eyes closed', according to Judge Maura McGowan, who described the case as the most horrific she had ever seen.
Kroker, originally from Poland but living in Andover, Hampshire, had been driving at 50mph and barely looked at the road for almost a kilometre before the collision. The impact compressed the family's Vauxhall Corsa to a third of its normal size. The family had been returning from a camping trip in two cars; Mark Goldsmith and his 13-year-old son Jake survived but witnessed the deaths of their loved ones.
Prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson said it was '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.' Jake now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a victim impact statement from his mother Kathryn.
Kroker initially told police his brakes had failed, but an onboard camera showed him looking up with 'sudden horror' less than a second before impact. He had signed a declaration to his employer promising not to use his phone at the wheel just an hour before the crash. He pleaded guilty on 10 October to four counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
Speaking outside court, Aimee's mother Kate Goldsmith said Kroker had turned his lorry into a 'lethal weapon' and urged all road users to stop using mobile phones while driving. 'The 10-year sentence will not ease our pain and suffering, nor do we believe it will send a strong enough message,' she added.
