Lorry driver accused of watching porn before fatal crash

A lorry driver was watching porn on his phone when he ploughed into a broken down truck on the hard shoulder of a motorway and killed the driver, a court heard.

Felix Gillon is alleged to have been seen throwing his mobile away after he had smashed into Kerry Pemberton, 55, on the southbound carriageway of the M69 in Leicestershire.

Mr Pemberton had stepped out of his vehicle while waiting for assistance in May last year and was crushed between his lorry and a safety barrier, a court heard.

Gillon, who was allegedly driving erratically and speeding up and down in the moments before the fatal crash, is said to have broke his SIM card in half and dismantled his phone in a bid to dispose of evidence.  

A lorry driver was watching porn on his phone when he ploughed into a broken down truck on the hard shoulder of the M69 and killed the driver, a court heard

The prosecution allege that pictures, including galleries of pornographic images, were found on the phone – and records showed the 56-year-old made a Google search for ‘porn star candy love,’ before the crash. 

Gillon, Bedworth, Warwickshire, failed to see Mr Pemberton or his broken down lorry, it was claimed at Leicester Crown Court.

The prosecutor, James Bide-Thomas, told the jury: ‘At around 3.13pm, on the M69 motorway, the Scania lorry driven by the defendant collided with Mr Pemberton’s stationary Iveco lorry.’

Mr Pemberton, of Birmingham, had also been driving away from Leicester when his lorry broke down near the A5 slip-road.

The court was told the victim had stopped on the side of the road at 3pm on May 3, 10 minutes before the crash.

Gillon’s truck was carrying a portable office which was slightly wider than his vehicle and after the front nearside of his lorry hit the back of Mr Pemberton’s, he was crushed between a safety fence and his own lorry. 

He survived the initial impact but was trapped under wreckage -and later died in hospital.

A police officer passing the scene of the incident spotted Gillon throw an item overarm towards a grass embankment.

Felix Gillon was seen throwing his mobile away after he had smashed into Kerry Pemberton, 55, Leicester Crown Court heard

Felix Gillon was seen throwing his mobile away after he had smashed into Kerry Pemberton, 55, Leicester Crown Court heard

When Gillon was asked what he had thrown, he told the police he had tossed his phone away because he was angry and it was damaged. 

When it was examined at the scene, the mobile did not appear to be heavily damaged but it was missing its battery and SIM card.

And later that day police recovered a snapped SIM card and the battery from the grass near to the crash. 

The court heard an onboard monitor from Gillon’s lorry showed his speed fluctuating between 55mph and 48mph before the crash and four minutes before the smash he had accessed the internet on his phone.

He had allegedly googled ‘porn star candy love’.

And from then until the collision, he accessed 25 webpages, including porn images. 

The court heard that Gillon accepted the collision occurred but stated that firstly, Mr Pemberton’s vehicle was sticking out into the road and secondly, that he was not using his phone.

Mr Bide-Thomas said: ‘When interviewed by the police, he stated that it was on the lorry’s dashboard from the time that he left Leicester.

‘You may feel as a matter of common sense that mobile phones do not surf the internet on their own.

‘You may also feel that the results of the phone analysis explain why the defendant took the SIM card out of his phone and snapped it, before throwing it, the battery and the phone away.

‘We say that the defendant knew that the evidence on that phone would prove that he was not paying attention at the time of the collision.’

Gillon denies causing death by dangerous driving, and doing acts tending and intended to pervert the course of justice by dismantling his mobile phone, breaking his SIM card and throwing them both away.

The trial continues. 

 

Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk