A12 lorry crash: Widower says trucker's jail appeal is 'painful'

Shane Snowling's wife Amanda was killed in a crash caused by a lorry driver making a call

A bereaved husband said it was "painful" to hear that the lorry driver who killed his wife while making a phone call has lodged an appeal against his prison sentence.

Amanda Snowling, 43, died after her car was hit on the A12 in Suffolk in 2018.

Raymond Hogg, 69, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for four years and four months.

"Sentences should be as tough as if you've taken a life in any other way," said widower Shane Snowling.

"No prison sentence is ever going to bring my wife back or is ever going to make my family whole again.

"But to hear a month later that he is trying to get his prison sentence reduced again after admitting he took someone's life is painful."

Amanda Snowling died after her vehicle became crushed between two lorries

Mrs Snowling's vehicle became crushed between two lorries at Copdock, just south of Ipswich, on 20 April 2018.

Ipswich Crown Court heard Hogg failed to brake and was distracted for at least 15 seconds as he made the call prior to the crash, which turned into a six-vehicle pile-up.

Mrs Snowling, who had six children, died at the scene.

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Mr Snowling, 47, said jail terms for deaths caused by drivers using their phones should be higher.

"It would 100% be a greater deterrent [from using a phone behind the wheel]," he said.

He urged motorists to keep their phones "completely out of your eyesight".

Raymond Hogg's lorry ploughed into Mrs Snowling's car

Hogg, of Bridge Street in Needham Market, was also disqualified from driving for seven years and two months.

During mitigation it was heard he was "utterly broken by the consequences of his actions that day".

The Royal Courts of Justice said the appeal was at the "early stages".