Man jailed for fatal collision on A14

A 55-year-old man has been jailed after being convicted of causing a fatal collision on the A14 at Beyton in 2023.

Christopher Cooke, (pictured above) of Shillitoe Close, Bury St Edmunds, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court today, Thursday, November 12, where he was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment.

He was also disqualified from driving for seven years, with an extended period of five-and-a-half years (covering half his sentence), so a total driving ban of 12-and-a-half years. In addition, he will be required to take an extended retest.

Cooke had been found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving earlier in the day, following a trial lasting nine days.

The incident occurred at just after 6pm on Thursday, March 30, 2023 on the A14 eastbound at Beyton, where Cooke was driving a Renault articulated heavy goods vehicle, which was towing a trailer carrying a full container.

Travelling in front of Cooke was a Citroen Dispatch van which was being driven by the victim – Paul Cobbold, aged 53.

Ahead of Mr Cobbold’s vehicle was a Mercedes HGV, which slowed and came to a stop due to a build-up of traffic in front – this was as traffic merged into one lane due to roadworks ahead.

Mr Cobbold responded in turn and began to slow his vehicle down for the queuing traffic. Cooke however, failed to respond in time, braked sharply and attempted to swerve to avoid colliding with Mr Cobbold’s vehicle.

The result was that the Renault HGV driven by Cooke collided with Mr Cobbold’s vehicle and pushed it into the rear of the stationary Mercedes HGV, crushing it in the process.

Cooke’s HGV then struck the Mercedes HGV before colliding with the central reservation barriers all whilst tipping over on to its nearside, coming to rest across both the eastbound lanes in front of the Mercedes HGV.

Members of the public made attempts to assist Mr Cobbold but he was sadly declared deceased at the scene.

Cooke was helped out of his cab by members of the public and taken to hospital for treatment having sustained minor injuries.

Whilst in hospital he was arrested by officers and taken to Bury St Edmunds Police Investigation Centre for questioning once he was discharged.

The investigation found that Cooke was making a regular journey from a yard on the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds to the Port of Felixstowe and he had only been driving for around five minutes at the time of the collision.

Analysis of Cooke’s mobile phone found that a game called “Chief Almighty” was running on the screen and the phone was unlocked and in focus at the time of the collision. This was then manually shut down after the collision, prior to it being seized by the police.

The digital analysis also found that on the previous evening when Cooke was making the same journey in the same HGV, he was active on the same game in between sending text messages, all whilst he was driving.

The mobile phone data was overlaid with the lorry’s tachograph data for both periods which shows the game was running on the phone screen during the journeys.

There were no visibility issues or adverse weather conditions that could have caused or contributed to the collision, and also no evidence of any defects, debris or other factors that could have affected the road condition. No mechanical defects were found with any of the vehicles involved.

Cooke was not found to have been suffering from any medical condition and was not driving under the influence of any substances, so the investigation concluded that he had been distracted from driving the HGV, with the likely cause the game that was active on his mobile phone.

In interview, Cooke was unable to explain why he had failed to react in time to the slowing traffic and said he looked down to check his speed and when he looked up again saw the vehicle in front of him and so he tried to swerve to avoid it.

At court he admitted he had driven carelessly but denied the charge of dangerous driving.

Having assessed all the evidence, the jury found him guilty of causing death by dangerous driving by a majority verdict of 10-2.

DC Mark Simpson, of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “This was a completely avoidable collision and as such a death that should not have occurred.

“Both Paul Cobbold and the driver of the HGV in front of him responded to the queuing traffic in sufficient time, slowing their vehicles safely as required.

“Despite his elevated vantage point, Christopher Cooke failed to respond to the traffic ahead and was quite clearly distracted.

“The evidence from his mobile phone leaves us in no doubt that this distraction was caused by the game was that was running on it.

“The fact we can also prove he was using the phone throughout the same journey he made the night before only adds weight to this hypothesis.

“We regularly run campaigns highlighting the dangers of using a mobile phone whilst driving and these risks are multiplied a number of times when you are in charge of a vehicle the size of an HGV.

“There is simply no excuse for a professional – or any – driver to take risks such as this and the outcome in this case is the most severe.

“The consequences for Paul Cobbold’s family were devastating – he was making his way home from work and never made it due to someone else’s reckless behaviour.

“I would like to thank Paul’s family for the patience and dignity they have shown throughout this lengthy and complex investigation and legal process.

“I hope the sentence handed down today will serve as both a warning and a deterrent to other drivers of the real and present risk caused by driving whilst using a mobile phone.”