A lorry driver who killed a mother walking her toddler in a pram when loose equipment hanging off his trailer smashed into her has been jailed for 13 months.
Kevin Miller, 71, failed to secure his crane to the bed of his lorry and instead attached it loosely to the 18-ton load of disused railway track he was transporting for scrap.
His load shifted during his journey on a winding road, causing the boom to swing out.
The defendant’s ‘wholesale disregard for safety’ meant it remained hanging dangerously over the side as he drove through Willingham in Cambridgeshire, on September 22, 2022.
The crane hit Rebecca Ableman, 30, on the head as she was out with her then two-year-old daughter, Autumn, after visiting a farm shop together.
Mental healthcare assistant Ms Ableman was flown to hospital by air ambulance with catastrophic head and brain injuries but died just over three weeks later when her life support was turned off.
Her family said her last act was that of a ‘hero’ as she managed to push the pram out of the way as she was hit, saving the life of her daughter.
Ms Ableman’s partner, Chris Tuczemskyi, 27, a product marketing manager, told the court her death could have been avoided if Miller had spent just £10 on a strap to secure his load properly.
The defendant, of King’s Lynn, Norfolk, was due to go on trial in February for causing death by dangerous driving.
But the prosecution accepted an alternative charge he admitted of causing death by careless driving, following consultations with expert witnesses and Mrs Ableman’s family.
Sentencing Miller at Peterborough Crown Court today, Judge Matthew Lowe said: ‘This defendant’s criminal failure to adequately secure the crane is the cause of Rebecca’s death.
‘To have secured the crane unit would have been the work of a moment. This tragedy could so easily have been avoided.’
The judge also criticised the defendant’s ‘slipshod attitude to maintenance’.
In their victim impact statement, Miss Ableman’s sisters Natalie and Christina said: ‘Her last act was to push the pram out of the way, taking the force herself and saving her child.
‘It breaks our heart that her daughter will grow up without her mother’s presence.’
Mr Tuczemskyi said in his statement: ‘The pain, damage and suffering continues every single day…
‘This tragedy has affected us all, but none more than my daughter who will grow up without her mother.’
He added: ‘Becky died because basic safety measures were not taken… A £10 rachet strap could have prevented this. Instead, he relied on what he had always done.
‘His decision not to take proper care ended Becky’s life. It was only chance that more lives were not lost. We live and suffer with the consequences of his negligence every single day.’
The court heard how Miller had set out from his depot at King’s Lynn at 3.50am that morning and had driven to a Network Rail depot in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, to pick up his load of scrap rails.
He left the depot at around 8.30am, heading back north and going down the B1050 country road through Willingham because traffic was heavy on his usual route.
Prosecutor William Carter said: ‘As he went through Willingham, the boom on his loader crane slewed to the near side. That left it in the position… where the crane grab can be seen overhanging the near side of the lorry.
He said that Miller had ‘failed to adequately secure the boom on his crane, which amounted to carelessness’ and which ‘fell below what would be expected of a competent and careful driver.
‘It was that which led to Rebecca’s death because leaving it unsecured enabled it to slew from the lorry trailer and it ended up sticking out over the pavement in a position to strike Rebecca on the back of her head, causing her death,’ Mr Carter added.
‘The route he was taking on the B1050 was not the route he regularly used. It meant he was travelling along a road which was not straight and flat. He had to negotiate a number of roundabouts and brake a number of times.’
Mr Carter told the court the crane boom was jutting out for between 30 and 40 seconds before the point of the collision on the 30mph limit road.
Mr Miller ‘drove on apparently completely unaware that anything untoward had happened’, with the crane still hanging off his trailer.
Once he had driven through Willingham, he spotted in his mirror that the crane had moved and pulled over to mechanically move it back into place.
He then carried on his journey, stopping at March to drop off his load before returning to his yard in King’s Lynn where police were waiting to speak to him after identifying his lorry from CCTV.
Mr Carter said: ‘He had not taken what the Crown say was an elementary precaution by strapping the boom down to the trailer itself.
‘All that was required was further strapping which could be thrown over the boom and tightened but he had not done that.’
As he was arrested, Miller protested: ‘What happened mate? I ain’t hit no one mate.’
The defendant insisted he had always secured the crane the same way by attaching it to his load, thinking that its hydraulics were sufficient to keep it in position.
He also claimed he had been stopped routinely by vehicle inspectors and had never been told that the crane should be strapped down separately.
But Mr Carter said: ‘The prosecution say that self evidently this method of securing the crane and boom was inadequate.’
The prosecutor added that the Association of Lorry Loaders Manufacturers and Importers launched a campaign in February 2022 aimed at ‘precisely this risk’ called ‘Strap down your loader crane’.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency also published guidance in July 2023, stressing the need for cranes to be secured separately to the load ‘to avoid uncontrolled slewing’.
Experts found that Miller’s crane was also dangerous and beyond economic repair, with defects present prior to the collision, ‘suggesting there had been ‘a sustained period where little or no maintenance had been carried out’.
An overload safety system had been over-ridden, there were cracks in the chassis and bolts holding crane down were in poor condition, with no locks on stabilisers which were ‘pinned awkwardly’.
An emergency stop button was also not working and hydraulic hoses and pipes were in an ‘appalling’ condition.
Mr Carter said there was also ‘excessive play’ in the slew, which may have contributed to excessive movement of the loader crane during travel, particularly when cornering.
John Dye, defending, called for Miller to be given a suspended sentence, saying he had been devastated by ‘the harm caused to the Ableman family’.
He added: ‘This is an unfathomable tragedy for the family of Rebecca. It’s hard to think of a more emotive case.
‘The impact it has had on Mr Miller is insignificant (in comparison)… He has shown genuine remorse.’
Paying tribute to his partner shortly after her death, Mr Tuczemskyi, 37, said: ‘To me, she was my light in the darkest of nights, my rock for when I stumbled and my best friend.
‘She made me a better person, she pushed me to be and do better because she could see my potential when I could not.’
Mr Tuczemskyi started a fundraising page on GoFundMe in memory of his partner, who worked in a mental health hospital in Cambridge, with funds going to East Anglian Air Ambulance and Addenbrooke’s Neuro ICU.
He was also raising funds for Autumn to explore the world and create a memorial bench for her late mother.
She had her first day at Willingham Primary School in September 2024.
Miller was also given a two-year driving ban today. It will start in six-and-a-half month’s time, to coincide with his expected release date from prison.
The maximum sentence for causing death by careless driving is a five-year jail term.
A life sentence can be imposed for causing death by dangerous driving. This was increased from a 14-year maximum for offences committed from after June.
