A boyfriend has spoken out about the agony of seeing his pregnant partner dead after a driver smashed into their car, as the killer motorist is jailed for three years.
Charity worker Rebecca Evans, 27, was eight months pregnant when Craig Scott, 51, ploughed into her family car, killing the expectant mother in November of 2016.
Her heartbroken partner Alex Evans was behind the wheel when Scott crashed his BMW into the back of the family Peugeot – and also seriously injured their two-year-old son.
Scott had just finished a hands-free call seconds before the fatal crash near Port Talbot, south Wales, and he was jailed for three years on Thursday.
Speaking out about the tragic loss of his girlfriend and unborn daughter, Mr Evans said: ‘I will never have my perfect family back, marry my love or be a father to my daughter.’
Alex Evans has spoken out about the agony of seeing his pregnant partner Rebecca Evans dead after a driver smashed into their car, killing the expecting mother in November of 2016. Pictured: Alex and Rebecca Evans with their son
Craig Scott, 51, (left) ploughed into the family’s car, killing Ms Evans and injuring her two-year-old son in the accident near Port Talbot, south Wales. Scott was jailed for three years on Thursday
The prosecution alleged the defendant was ‘quite simply avoidably and dangerously distracted’, but Scott, of Heath, Cardiff, who pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving at an earlier hearing, denied this.
On Thursday, after deliberating for two hours and 10 minutes, a jury of seven men and five women found him guilty of causing Ms Evans’ death and her son’s serious injuries by dangerous driving.
Sentencing him at Swansea Crown Court, Judge Keith Thomas said: ‘The sole cause of this accident was your failure to keep a proper level of concentration on the road ahead.
‘That lack of judgement was not momentary of short-lived.’
In a victim impact statement which was read to the court, Mr Evans said his partner of nine years and their unborn daughter had been taken away from him.
‘Cian after just turning two years old lost his loving mother and his sister, a sister he will never meet,’ he said.
Mr Evans said he had a ‘perfect family life’ and Ms Evans – who he planned to ask to marry him – was eight days away from going on maternity leave from her job at Shelter Cymru, where they both worked.
He said after the collision he had seen Ms Evans ‘lifeless and covered in blood’, and Cian ‘dazed and bleeding heavily’ and had to decide who he should try to help first.
Speaking out about the tragic loss of his girlfriend and unborn daughter, Mr Evans said: ‘I will never have my perfect family back, marry my love or be a father to my daughter’
‘Those pictures and feelings will never leave me as long as I live,’ he said.
‘I had to stand and watch my loved ones die and suffer and there was nothing I could do to help them.’
Mr Evans said he would ‘never forget the look of pain and longing in (Cian’s) eyes as he asked for Rebecca’ and his son had spent months asking to ‘see mammy’.
He added: ‘The pain and suffering will never go away and I miss my girls every single moment of every day.’
Describing the accident, Mr Evans said: ‘I saw this car coming up behind us. I think I said something like: ‘He’s coming a bit fast. I don’t think he’s slowing down.’
Mr Evans said: ‘I saw them pull Becca from the car and I saw the blood on her dress. I knew then that our daughter had gone. I knew that straight away’
The couple’s son Cian was in the back of the car and suffered serious injuries as witnesses rushed to help.
Mr Evans said: ‘I saw them pull Becca from the car and I saw the blood on her dress. I knew then that our daughter had gone. I knew that straight away.
‘Not in a million years did I think I would lose Becca.’
The court heard power station worker Scott told police he had ended a hands-free call with work about five minutes before the crash.
But phone analysis showed the call was actually between just 14 and 34 seconds before the tragedy.
Prosecutor Miss Catherine Richards said: ‘The results were catastrophic. The BMW careered into the rear of the car.’
Two-year-old Cian, who was due to be dropped to his gran, suffered a bleed on the brain, a fractured skull and fractured legs.
Prosecutor Miss Richards said: ‘As Alex Evans sat in his vehicle with the hazard lights flashing he could see the defendant’s BMW vehicle approaching from behind. It seemed to Alex Evans he was not slowing down.’
The court heard Scott was driving at around 70mph just two miles away from a 50mph zone.
Ms Evans’ mother Meryl Evans read her victim impact statement to the court, sobbing as she did so. In it she said: ‘Becca and Cari didn’t pass away; they were killed.’ Pictured: PC Matthew Deschoolmeester speaks to the press outside Swansea Crown Court, whilst (left to right) Rebecca Evans’ sister Elen Evans, father Brian Evans and mother Meryl Evans stand nearby
Scott also said he had been distracted by something on a bridge moments before the crash near Junction 38. The court heard there was no evidence that the BMW brakes had been applied suddenly.
Miss Richards added: ‘He was quite simply avoidably and dangerously distracted.’
Ms Evans’ mother Meryl Evans read her victim impact statement to the court, sobbing as she did so.
In it she said: ‘Becca was my rock, my friend, the person I would turn to for advice. Things don’t make sense anymore. I want her back. Becca and Cari didn’t pass away; they were killed.’
Craig Harris, for Scott, said his client was ‘sorry and extremely remorseful for his actions’.
Scott was also banned from driving for five years.