Rebecca Evans: Distracted driver killed pregnant mother

Rebecca Evans was pronounced dead about 45 minutes after the crash

For Rebecca Evans, 27, it was a typical working morning; a rush-hour commute heading from her home in Bridgend west along the M4 to Swansea.

It was a route she knew well, having taken it for the past five years to her job at homeless charity Shelter Cymru, where she helped young people learn to live independently.

It was a "crisp and fresh" November day in 2016 and at eight-months pregnant with her second child, she was looking forward to beginning her maternity leave the following week.

She had every reason to feel optimistic - especially after suffering a miscarriage earlier that year.

Little did she know as she left that morning she would never make it home again and her cherished baby daughter - all the more longed for because of her previous loss - would never be born.

Roughly halfway into her journey, at just before 8.20 in the morning, Rebecca and her unborn baby were killed when Craig John Scott, from Heath, Cardiff, crashed his BMW at 70mph into the back of their car just 13 seconds after he'd finished making a phone call.

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The impact was "catastrophic" - shunting Rebecca's crumpled Peugeot 407 into the Audi in front.

Becca with the family dog Poppy, who survived the crash

Three police vehicles - which happened to be on the other side of the motorway at the time, their officers travelling to Cardiff to undergo training - arrived within minutes.

But the scene that greeted them was one of horror.

Rebecca's two-year-old son Cian, who was travelling in the back seat waiting to be dropped en-route with his grandmother, had bleeding on the brain, plus a fractured skull and legs.

Alex, 29, Rebecca's long-term partner and driver of the car, was unhurt.

The family dog called Poppy, who had been in a crate on the back seat, was also seriously injured; she survived after being treated by a local vet who waived their fee.

But it was Rebecca - known as Becca to her loved ones - who bore the brunt of the impact.

For 45 minutes, too injured to be moved, she was treated by paramedics at the side of the motorway before she and her unborn daughter, Cari - for that's what she was called - were pronounced dead.

Alex gave a harrowing police statement where he explained: "There was suddenly a bang, and chaos. Just chaos.

"I got out and saw people pulling at her car door.

"I saw them pull her from the car and blood on her dress and I knew then my daughter had gone. But never in a million years did I think I would lose Rebecca."

Craig John Scott told police he finished a hands-free call five minutes before the fatal crash

At a trial in Swansea Crown Court, jurors heard father-of-three Craig Scott, 53, had been driving "too fast" for the road conditions and failed to see the stationary vehicles.

For him too, this was a familiar route; he worked at Baglan Bay power station, just west of Port Talbot.

Like Rebecca and Alex, he knew that stretch of the M4 by Margam, Port Talbot, between junctions 38 and 39, could prove hazardous as it dropped from three lanes to two.

Yet on that fateful Tuesday morning, driving sensibly in the outside lane, it was only Alex Evans who was alert to the building traffic.

As the moving vehicles ground to a halt before him, he slowed and braked, then applied his warning hazard lights.

It was a futile act.

In his powerful BMW, coming up behind - his recent phone call fresh in his mind and a hot coffee waiting to be drunk - Craig Scott was oblivious.

The four day trial focused on his driving and the jury heard conflicting evidence about his phone use.

He initially claimed he had made a 58-second hands-free phone call to his work around four minutes before the crash.

But evidence in court showed he had been on the phone between 14 and 34 seconds before the collision.

He also denied using the hands-free system to make a third call when the crash happened.

Instead, he claimed he was distracted by a mysterious object off to his left, possibly a reflection.

The crash happened near junction 38 on the M4 as Scott travelled westbound

He told jurors that he then saw the back of a silver car and remembered thinking, "I haven't got time to stop".

Recalling the moment of impact, he added: "The airbags came out... it was an almighty force."

Whatever the truth behind his distraction, the consequences were deadly.

He failed to spot the stationary cars in front of him and didn't apply the brakes, ploughing into the Peugeot at 70mph.

Alex told the police in a statement that was read to the court: "I came to a stop and was checking behind me as I always do.

"I think I said something like, 'he is coming a bit fast'. I don't think Rebecca had time to look up."

In fact, it seems Rebecca was blissfully unaware, scrolling through Facebook on her mobile phone in the passenger seat, her son sitting contentedly behind her.

This was the last time the loving family would be together.

After the impact, Alex, who also worked for Shelter as their communications officer but has since left, was faced with the gruesome reality.

Rebecca could not be moved, yet his son, Cian, needed to be taken by Air Ambulance to Cardiff's University Hospital Wales.

Ultimately, police collected Rebecca's mother, Meryl, still waiting at their pre-arranged meeting spot at the services at Penllergaer, Swansea.

Alex then went with his son to hospital.

Cian went on to spend five days in hospital, with the Welsh Air Ambulance service credited for saving his life.

Following Becca and Cari's funeral at Calfaria Baptist Chapel, Penygroes, Llanelli - where Becca was originally from - her friends and family raised £18,000 for the Air Ambulance Service.

Much came from the release of a song, Anfonaf Angel (I'm Sending An Angel), by the Encore Stage School in Ammanford, where Becca helped teach children how to sing and dance.

In court, Craig Scott was found guilty of death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

In the public gallery, Becca's family cried out at the verdict.

He was later jailed for three years.