07 May 2024,   22:51
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Trucker who killed 3 in horror crash while browsing sex sites gives tearful apology

A lorry driver who killed 3 people when he crashed into stationary cars as he looked at sex sites on his phone has given a tearful apology to their families from prison, writes the Mirror.

Ion Onut’s cab burst into flames and careered 100 metres along the A1 (M) at Bowburn in County Durham in horrific scenes which were captured on dash cam footage in July 2021. He was jailed for 8 years and 10 months at Durham Crown Court after admitting 3 counts of causing death by dangerous driving. Couple David Daglish and Elaine Sullivan from Seaham, County Durham, and Paul Mullen from Washington, Tyne and Wear, died instantly.

Onut was browsing “casual sexual partners” on websites including “S**g Today” when he hit two queueing cars at 58mph on the A1.

The judge told the 41-year-old it would have been bad enough if he had fallen asleep, but Onut had been trawling the internet for sexual partners, and his last interaction on his mobile phone had come just seconds before impact.

Onut agreed to be interviewed in prison as part of a BBC documentary titled Deadly Browsing: The Lorry Driver. From jail, he wept and acknowledged he could have travelled several hundred yards while looking at his phone.

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