Fatal smash driver jailed

Paul Allen, of Brynfa Avenue, Welshpool, admitted the charge at Aylesbury Crown Court in Buckinghamshire yesterday.

The 46-year-old lorry driver was sentenced to 30 months in prison, banned from driving for three years and ordered to resit a driving test.

The court heard Allen failed to slow down for slow-moving traffic waiting to join the M25 between junctions two and 1A of the M40 at about 6.50am on November 29, 2007.

The Scania curtain-sided lorry he was driving crashed into the rear of a silver Vauxhall Vectra which was being driven by Helen Jeanette Kelly, 39, from Oxfordshire.

She was airlifted to the Royal London Hospital with severe head injuries but later died in hospital.

A number of the other motorists involved in the collision also sustained injuries after the smash.

The court heard the fatal crash had forced Mrs Kelly's car onto the hard shoulder of the motorway.

Allen's lorry then struck the rear of several other vehicles, before finally coming to a stop on the carriageway, the court was told.

Mrs Kelly's husband Don attended court for the sentencing of Allen. He said after the hearing that the sentence would now allow his family to get on with their lives.

Mr Kelly said: "I would like to thank the police for all their efforts and am grateful that this terrible situation has come to an end.

"Both myself and my boys can now begin to move forward with our lives and begin to come to terms with life without Helen."

Police officers involved in the case said the collision showed what could happen when drivers did not pay enough attention to the road. Constable John Belson, the investigating officer, said: "This was an extremely serious collision."

By Iain St John