BBC News has reported that Peter Morrison, 37, who had been speeding and sending phone messages before the crash in Cumbria in February 2016, was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving following a trial at Carlisle Crown Court.
Adam Gibb, 51, from Penrith, died and Paul Holroyd, 53, from Kirkby Stephen, was left paralysed from the chest down.
Sentencing Morrison at Liverpool Crown Court, Mr Justice William Davis said the jail term he was imposing “does not begin to reflect the true value of the lives you have wrecked.”
Morrison was also handed an eight-year driving ban.
At his trial Morrison admitted causing death by careless driving, but denied dangerous driving.
Jurors were told that he was speeding and sending a string of phone WhatsApp messages minutes before losing control of his Mercedes ML 350 4×4 in “atrocious” weather conditions.
His vehicle then swerved “violently” off the southbound carriageway, across the hard shoulder and rebounded off a rock before ploughing into the two highways workers who were overseeing the recovery of two previously-crashed vehicles.
During 23 miles he had exchanged 25 phone messages and the last – 96 seconds before the crash – was to Nottingham Forest’s Zach Clough containing a link to video footage of a goal the striker had scored.
With employees who drive for business more likely to be killed at work than deep sea divers or coal miners, driver safety is a vital business consideration.
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