Lorry driver jailed for 10 years for killing family while playing with his phone

The family of a woman and three children killed by a lorry driver who was distracted by his phone have said his 10-year jail sentence ‘does not do justice to the crime committed’. Tomasz Kroker, 30, smashed into the vehicle carrying Tracey Houghton, 45, her sons, Ethan Houghton, 13, and Josh Houghton, 11, and her stepdaughter, Aimee Goldsmith, 11, at 50mph on August 10. Their car was shunted underneath the back of a heavy goods vehicle and crushed to a third of its size, immediately killing the family, from Bedfordshire, at the scene on the A34 dual carriageway north of Newbury in Berkshire. The victims’ relatives said Kroker’s use of his phone turned his lorry into a ‘lethal weapon’. In a statement read on behalf of the family, Aimee’s mother, Kate Goldsmith, said: ‘Today Tomasz Kroker has been sentenced for killing much-loved members of our family. However, in our eyes, the sentence does not do justice to the crime committed. Tracey Houghton, her two sons, Ethan and Josh, and Aimee Goldsmith were innocent victims of his actions. ‘On the 10th of August 2016, Mr Kroker made the decision to change his music on his phone whilst driving a lorry at 50mph. His lorry hit a queue of stationary traffic, killing four family members and seriously injuring another driver. | Metro News via IFTTT

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