A truck driver has pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving after a mother pushing a stroller was fatally injured by crane equipment hanging from a trailer.
Rebecca Ableman, 30, was walking with her two-year-old daughter Autumn in Willingham, Cambridgeshire, in September 2022 when she was struck on the head.
The driver, Kevin Miller, 70, was operating the vehicle with improperly secured equipment that posed a significant risk, as explained in a trial last year that was cut short due to time constraints for witnesses.
Instead of facing trial for causing death by dangerous driving, Miller accepted a lesser charge of causing death by careless driving today, to which he responded with a “Guilty” plea following discussions among the prosecution, police, expert witnesses, and the Ableman family.
Judge Matthew Lowe of Peterborough Crown Court announced that sentencing for Miller would be postponed until April 14 for a probation report, allowing him to remain out on unconditional bail. However, the judge cautioned Miller that a prison sentence was likely, stating that the case met the threshold for custody.
Miller had been transporting scrap metal from King’s Lynn docks to Network Rail depots in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, and March, Cambridgeshire, on the day of the incident, as detailed in the previous year’s trial.
The court heard that the loose crane equipment, which was not properly secured, shifted on the trailer and extended over the edge onto the footpath in Willingham.
Rebecca Ableman was leaving a farm shop on Station Road with her daughter when she was struck by the moving truck shortly before 11:15 a.m.
Suffering severe head and brain injuries, Ms. Ableman passed away three weeks later on October 16 from traumatic brain injury at Addenbrookes Hospital’s Neuro ICU in Cambridgeshire.
Her partner, Chris Tuczemskyi, the father of Autumn, expressed his devastation over the loss, mentioning their plans for marriage and the close bond between mother and daughter.
