A lorry driver has been jailed for killing a couple on the M62 near Huddersfield.

Ethen Roberts’ vehicle toppled on top of a car carrying a couple on holiday to Manchester Airport – seconds after he had been distracted by a text message.

And a court heard he had received and sent dozens of texts to a woman friend while he had been driving his truck.

Sentencing him to more than five years in jail, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said: “Those who drive HGVs owe a particular responsibility to other road users because of the nature of the vehicle they drive and because the results of dangerous driving can be catastrophic.

“Evidence clearly shows you had a regular habit of reading and composing and sending text messages while driving.

“If ever a case demonstrated the obvious danger of that this is it and the danger in doing that was obvious and it created a grossly avoidable distraction.

“You received a text message very shortly before the collision and you were either reading it or composing a reply when you lost control of your lorry.”

Roberts, 44, had moved into the middle lane to overtake another vehicle in an area near the junction with the M606 at Chain Bar which was limited to 50mph because of narrow lanes and roadworks.

But as the road ahead started to rise, his vehicle with a 19-tonne load slowed and cars on the inside began catching up with him.

One of those was driven by Mark McHale, who was on his way to Manchester Airport with his wife Tamsie, intending to fly to Cuba on holiday.

Richard Clews, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court yesterday the lorry was seen to veer into the McHale’s Audi pushing it in front of his lorry for a time before it was then propelled into the third lane facing the wrong way.

Meanwhile the lorry swerved first to the right then the left. That had a destabilising effect. It jack-knifed and fell on top of the car, killing the pair inside.

At first Roberts tried to blame Mr McHale for the crash. Examination of his phone showed no messages at the time concerned but checks revealed a text had been deleted.

Mark McHale was tragically killed in the horror smash on the M62
Mark McHale was tragically killed in the horror smash on the M62

Records revealed that over the previous three days Roberts had received 58 text messages from a good friend, Helen Chapman, all while tachograph records showed he was driving and the last one had arrived about one minute 16 seconds before the collision.

He had sent 48 messages to her in return.

“It is clear he was in the habit of both reading and composing text messages while driving and had done so frequently on the day of the collision,” said Mr Clews.

“In all probability the defendant was either reading the message from Helen Chapman or had read it and was in the process of making a reply. There is no other reason for deleting it otherwise.”

Roberts, of Ings Lane, Immingham, admitted two charges of causing the deaths of Mr and Mrs McHale by dangerous driving on July 25 last year.

He was jailed for five years three months and disqualified from driving for five years.

The judge said he accepted Roberts had not set out that day to kill or injure anybody and that his remorse was genuine but it was a seriously aggravating feature that he was in the habit of texting while driving.

Tamsie McHale was killed on the M62 alongside her husband Mark when their Audi A5 collided with a lorry
Tamsie McHale was killed on the M62 alongside her husband Mark when their Audi A5 collided with a lorry

He said no sentence was intended to mark the value of a life. Mr McHale was a businessman running his own hair salon, his wife had overcome difficulties as a child to become an inspirational deputy head teacher.

“They were on their way no doubt to a well earned holiday”.

The court heard Roberts was driving from Grimsby to Burnley when the accident happened shortly before 6am.

After the collision he was found by witnesses bleeding in the cab of his vehicle and on the phone to his boss.

Peter Horgan, for Roberts, told the court he had been driving HGVs for 13 years doing an average 30,000 miles a year without a problem.

“He accepts on occasions he did make and send text messages.”

He deeply regretted what had happened and would never again drive an HGV.

Mr McHale, 46, and his 43-year-old wife were from Bishop Auckland. She was deputy head teacher at Durham’s Gilesgate Primary School.