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Sunderland lorry driver pleads guilty to killing four-year-old girl
Priyanka Bhogal
A LORRY driver who smashed into a line of slow-moving motorway traffic, killing a four-year-old girl, has pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
Robert Booth, 64, was warned to expect a jail sentence “measured in years” after changing his plea to guilty on the second day of his trial at Warwick Crown Court.
Booth, of Brockley Street, Town End Farm, Sunderland, had previously denied causing the death of Priyanka Bhogal, whose parents’ Vauxhall Zafira was “punted” into a concrete barrier beside the M6.
Several other cars were also damaged in the accident near Coleshill, Warwickshire, in the early hours of November 27 2011.
Priyanka, from Coventry, suffered a fatal head injury when Booth’s heavy goods vehicle ploughed into the Zafira, which had slowed down with its hazard lights flashing due to a build-up of traffic.
Booth’s trial heard that he was driving at 55mph moments before the crash despite “obvious” overhead gantry signs warning of a problem ahead.
Signs were also in place reducing the speed limit to 40mph at the time of the accident near junction 4 of the M6.
Granting Booth bail until sentence is passed on February 25, Judge Sylvia De Bertodano told the haulier: “You have made a decision which I think everyone, probably including yourself, is very relieved you have made at this stage.
“Please don’t be under any illusions.
“I am releasing you on bail but it will inevitably be a sentence of custody and it will inevitably be measured in years.”
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Monday 20 May 2013
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