Internet Poker Playing Lorry Driver Kills Motorist On Motorway
October 28, 2010 10:04 amA 42-year-old lorry driver from Wales has been jailed for five years after ploughing into a stationary vehicle on a congested motorway, because he was playing internet poker at the time.
On September 18th 2009 at 2.45pm, Stephen Cook, from Mid Glamorgan, was playing interactive poker on Facebook while driving his lorry on the M25, near junction 25, when he failed to take account of traffic warning signs.
As a result, Cook then drove at 40 m.p.h.into the back of a white Vauxhall Astra van, which was then shunted into the back of the broken down vehicle in front of him. The 39 year-old driver of the white van, Peter Kendall, was then rushed to Royal London Hospital but died two days later due to serious head injuries.
Following their investigations, police charged Cook with causing death by dangerous driving and yesterday at Wood Green Crown Court, in Haringey, he received a five year jail term, as well as a driving ban.
Commenting on yesterday’s sentencing, leading investigator Detective Inspector Simon Sharp, said:
“The utterly irresponsible actions of Stephen Cook led to dreadful consequences. Our thoughts are with Mr Kendall’s family and we hope that the outcome of the trial has gone some way to alleviating their sense of loss.”
In a shameful twist, police also recovered pornographic images of children from the lorry driver’s laptop and he received a further two months sentence after pleading guilty to the charges on six counts.