Facebook-checking HGV driver jailed over double fatal crash

James Majury had been using his mobile phone at the wheel moments before the fatal crash

An HGV driver who was checking Facebook on his phone moments before he crashed into a school minibus, killing a boy and a support worker, has been jailed.

Fourteen-year-old Joe Cairns and Anne Kerr, 50, died when James Majury crashed into them on the M58 in Lancashire in January last year.

Five other people were seriously injured in the crash.

Majury, 33, previously admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for eight years and 10 months.

He was also banned from driving for nearly 10 years.

Relatives paid tribute to Joe Cairns and Anne Kerr

Judge Robert Altham, sitting at Preston Crown Court, said Majury had "prioritised checking his Facebook over the safety of anyone else on the road that day" and his actions had caused "untold suffering" and the loss of two "precious" people.

Mobile phone records showed Majury, of Milton Road in Coppull, Chorley, had been using his mobile phone throughout his journey on 8 January 2019, sending texts, making calls, using sports apps, opening a medieval fantasy game and finally scouring Facebook while behind the wheel.

He only noticed the minibus carrying children to Pontville School, a special needs school in Ormskirk, half a second before the impact.

Despite slamming on his brakes, his lorry hit the minibus at 50mph.

Prosecutors said his Mercedes Arocs lorry, heavily laden with scaffolding, had "unleashed a 19-tonne battering ram" into the back of the nine-seater school vehicle carrying pupils and staff.

Both victims died at the scene.

Five other people were injured in the crash in Bickerstaffe, Lancashire, on 8 January 2019

Joe Cairns' mum Steph said: "I miss my little boy every minute of every day. I feel useless now he's not here any more because he was my world.

"I always thought he needed me because of his special needs but it turned out I needed him way more.

"It's ripped me apart and the only thing that keeps me going are my three other beautiful children.

"I cry every day thinking about Joe. He's constantly on my mind, I miss his humour and his company.

"I think about him laughing because it was so infectious and made me smile, he made everybody smile. He was our hero."

The husband of Anne Kerr, from Southport, described her as a "caring and compassionate" woman who put the needs of others before her own.

Simon Kerr said his life since the crash had been an "unbearable, recurring nightmare".