Shocking CCTV shows the moment lorry driver Tomasz Kroker killed family of four while using his mobile phone at the wheel

Tom Powell31 October 2016
WEST END FINAL

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This is the moment a lorry driver killed a woman and three children by ploughing into their stationary car while scrolling through music on his phone.

Tomasz Kroker, 30, can be seen nonchalantly flicking through his mobile while only glancing at the road ahead, failing to notice the queue of stopped cars.

Moments later his lorry smashed into the cars at 50mph, killing Tracey Houghton, 45, her sons, Ethan, 13, and Josh, 11, and her stepdaughter, Aimee Goldsmith, 11.

Their car was shunted underneath a lorry in front and crushed to a third of its size, immediately killing the family, from Bedfordshire, on the A34 dual carriageway in Berkshire.

Distracted: Kroker stares at his phone and not the road ahead

Family members today said Kroker’s 10-year jail "does not do justice to the crime committed".

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.

"To all intents and purposes, Mr Kroker's use of his mobile phone whilst driving turned his lorry into a lethal weapon. He was so distracted he made no attempt to slow down."

She also paid tribute to her daughter Aimee, saying: "She wanted to be a vet, someone that looked after animals, and talked about having her own place where animals could go.

"She had a kitten for Christmas, his name's Vimto and he loves and misses her very much.

"I continue to see drivers using their phones and it sickens me.

"If they had seen the devastation they brought my family or to other families ..."

Doug Houghton, Josh and Ethan's father, spoke of his "beautiful boys".

He said: "I thought that was the worst day of my life, my kids being killed, but I think it was three weeks later when I went to the funeral directors and actually saw them dead, cold in their coffins.

"They wanted to go Pokemon hunting in Hyde Park and I said when you come back from holiday we can go down and spend a day in London."

Mark Goldsmith, father of Aimee and Jake, added that Tracey Houghton was a "bubbly, great mum who just loved to live life".

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