A distracted trucker who was watching porn on his phone has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for causing a fiery crash that killed a father of two.
A veteran trucker has been jailed for 10 years after causing a fatal crash while distracted by porn on his phone.
Neil Platt, 43, admitted causing the death of British father-of-two Danny Aitchison, 46, in May 2024 on the M58 in Lancashire. Prosecutors said Platt had “persistently viewed” social media and explicit images during his three-hour journey from Scotland before plowing into Aitchison’s Hyundai, which then rammed into a tanker and burst into flames.
Judge Ian Unsworth KC told him: “Your arrogant and selfish attitude to driving was quite breathtaking… you were distracted by doing something so mind-blowingly stupid.”
Platt, from Bootle, will serve two-thirds of his sentence and face a seven-year driving ban.
Aitchison’s partner, Kerry, said: “He was just coming home to me and the kids. Their hero has gone. Telling the kids is and always will be the hardest thing I will do in my lifetime.”
His daughter Ella remembered him as “a good man driven by family and a pure love of life.”