Driver spent seven minutes on TikTok before crash that killed toddler
A driver spent seven minutes on TikTok before a crash that killed a toddler, a court has heard.
Hristo Iliev, 32, was looking at clips on the social media platform before he smashed into the back of another vehicle, which was waiting at a roundabout in Lincolnshire. He has been jailed for 11 years and three months.
Chloe Baker was travelling home from an after-school club with her 20-month-old son Finley Baker when Iliev's Volkswagen Passat struck her car. Advertisement
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The force of the impact shunted Mrs Baker's car forward into another stationary vehicle, leaving Finley unresponsive and another child in her car unconscious for four minutes.
Finley sustained a catastrophic head injury and was airlifted to the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham, where his life support was withdrawn two days later.
Mrs Baker also suffered a badly dislocated arm and significant cuts and bruises during the collision on the A17 near Sleaford at around 4.45pm on March 19 last year. The other child in the car suffered a cut leg and a chipped tooth.
The accident happened on the A17 near Sleaford in Lincolnshire
Iliev, a Bulgarian national who has spent 15 years in the UK, was heard saying: "Oh no, oh no" at the scene. Advertisement
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He later gave the police a prepared statement in which he denied using his phone and claimed to have been maintaining a safe distance from Mrs Baker's car.
Jeremy Janes, prosecuting, told Lincoln Crown Court: "That simply was not true. His phone was seized, and ultimately that gave up the best evidence of what caused this collision."
Analysis of the phone showed that, in the seven minutes before the collision, Iliev had briefly watched the Apple TV app and unlocked the device on at least two occasions to watch TikTok, partially viewing at least six videos and manually removing nine notifications.
Collision investigators also estimated that he did not take any evasive action until just 6.4 metres before Mrs Baker's Kia. Advertisement
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The court heard that Iliev had no previous convictions, but had two previous endorsements on his driving licence.
Iliev admitted causing the death of Finley on March 21 last year by driving a Volkswagen Passat dangerously. The father-of-three, of Boston, Lincolnshire, also pleaded guilty to a second charge of causing serious injury to Mrs Baker by dangerous driving.
Child with the 'sweetest nature'
Both Finley's parents were present in court and read out victim impact statements from the witness box.
Mrs Baker, a teaching assistant, described her son as "her beautiful baby boy" who did not deserve to die because of Iliev's reckless choices. She told the court how Finley would help with the weekly shop and loved his balance bike.
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"If only we had known his first birthday was the only one we would celebrate we would have filled it with bikes," she said. "What happened on our journey home is something I will never get over."
Daniel Baker, Finley's father, said the decision to withdraw Finley's life support was one no parent should have to make. He said: "It has altered us as people forever.
We don't sleep for more than a few hours a night."
Finley's nursery described him as a child with the "sweetest nature", who loved singing, dancing and food.
Jon Dee, mitigating for Iliev, said his client had come to the UK as a teenager. Advertisement Advertisement
"He has a wife and three children," said Mr Dee. "He has been in this country for some 15 years.
He has worked, paid taxes and had a family."
Addressing Mrs Baker, Judge Simon Hirst said he was acutely aware that any sentence would be seen as woefully inadequate as he jailed Iliev for 11 years and three months.
Iliev, who followed the hearing via a Bulgarian interpreter, was also banned from driving for 10 and a half years and will have to take an automatic retest.
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