(Image source: Sky News)
A lorry-driver has been jailed for almost nine years in the UK after causing a major accident after trawling dating sites while driving.
According to Sky News, 41-year-old Ion Onut ploughed into stationary traffic in County Durham, just seconds after scrolling on this phone.
Video footage from a dash cam showed Onut’s lorry bursting into flames and crashing along the motorway after an explosion took place. He then failed to brake and smashed into the traffic at 58 mph, killing three people instantly – couple David Daglish and Elaine Sullivan, and Paul Mullen.
When the matter came before the court, prosecutor Nick Dry described Onut as “utterly engrossed in internet activity, in pursuit of sexual gratification, over an extended period of time while in control of a large goods vehicle on a busy motorway”.
It was reported that Onut was viewing adult websites S*** Today and Mystic Match where he spent £50 to engage with users. It was said that the had been editing his own profile and browsing for up to 40 minutes before the smash in July 2021. In Court, Onut admitted three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
In sentencing him for eight years and ten months, and banning him from the road for 10 years after his release, Judge James Adkin told Onut:
“You were not asleep at the wheel, which would have been bad enough, in fact you were trawling the internet looking for casual sexual partners.”
The judge also noted that the situation was extremely traumatic for everyone on the scene including firefighters, police officers and paramedics.
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