By Mark Tanos
A British truck driver who watched porn while driving received a 10-year prison sentence Friday for killing a father of two in a fiery highway crash.
Neil Platt, 43, scrolled through naked photos on X seconds before his truck slammed into Danni Aitchison’s Hyundai Kona last May on a Lancashire highway. The impact pushed Aitchison’s car into a tanker truck, causing it to burst into flames, the New York (NY) Post reported.
Prosecutors told the court that Platt used WhatsApp, X, YouTube and TikTok throughout his three-hour drive from Scotland to Liverpool. Police photos showed the veteran trucker sitting in his cab after the crash with his head in his hands.
Judge Ian Unsworth KC condemned Platt’s behavior during sentencing.
“Your arrogant and selfish attitude to driving was quite breathtaking,” the judge said, according to the outlet. “You willingly and without any excuse chose to ignore the laws of the road.” (RELATED: REPORT: Mom Turns 13-Year-Old Son In After She Watches Video Of Him Stealing Trucks)
The judge called Platt “a multi-ton accident waiting to happen” and said he was “distracted by doing something so mind-blowingly stupid.”
“You were not paying attention to what was ahead but you were paying attention to your phone,” Unsworth added.
Aitchison was talking to his partner Kerry when the crash occurred, the outlet reported. She heard the call suddenly cut off.
“He was just coming home to me and the kids. Their hero has gone,” Kerry said. “Telling the kids is and always will be the hardest thing I will do in my lifetime.”
Platt pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. He will serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody. The court also banned him from driving for seven years.
His attorney Stephen McNally said Platt was “genuinely remorseful” and “hating himself” for causing the tragedy.
