M6 driver was ‘distracted by phone’ before fatal crash killing ‘one in a million dad’

A ‘distracted’ M6 driver who was using his mobile phone at the wheel caused a fatal accident which killed a ‘one in a million dad’.

Jesse Rees was jailed for 40 months after pleading guilty to causing the death of John Stanley by dangerous driving. A court^[1] heard how the 76-year-old victim was riding a Honda motorbike when it was involved in a collision with Rees’ Peugeot Bipper van junctions 41 and 42^[2].

Witnesses described seeing the van close up to the rear of the motorbike prior to the collision before it hit the motorcycle from behind, sending the bike and rider crashing to the road. Investigations showed that Rees’ phone had been accessed a couple of minutes before the collision occurred.