Truck Driver Looking at Porn Fatally Struck Father of 2 — Now He Learns Fate

A British truck driver who killed a father of two while distractedly scrolling through social media has been sentenced to prison.

Neil Platt, 43, received a 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving in a May 2024 crash that killed Danny Aitchison, 46, according to a Lancashire Constabulary news release.

Aitchison was stuck in traffic on his way home in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, talking to his partner, Kerry, on a hands-free device when the call suddenly ended, police said.

At the same time, Platt was driving a truck to Liverpool. Dash cam footage showed he was scrolling through his phone and checking social media.

Platt did not notice that traffic had slowed. He crashed into Aitchison’s stationary Hyundai at 54 mph, killing him instantly. The Hyundai then hit another truck and eventually caught fire.

Platt claimed to police that he only touched his phone to check the time and GPS. However, a review of his phone showed he had been using multiple apps, including X, Facebook, WhatsApp, and TikTok.

“He only looked up at the road ahead fleetingly for the 45 seconds that he was interacting with his phone,” the release said.

Some of the content Platt viewed before the crash was “pornographic in nature,” Judge Ian Unsworth KC said in court, according to LBC.

The judge added that Platt was a “multi-ton accident waiting to happen,” and called his “arrogant and selfish attitude to driving… quite breathtaking,” per the BBC.

Kerry, Aitchison’s partner and mother of his two children, spoke at sentencing. She said they had been talking about “daily life,” and when the call ended, she thought his phone had just died.

“Danny was in my life for 23 years; he knew everything about me, and we did everything together,” Kerry said, according to Lancashire police. “He was the one I was meant to be with, and now the children have also lost their dad.”

Their daughter Ella, 15 at the time, was preparing for a major chemistry exam the next day and had asked her father for flashcards to study.

“I haven’t written on the flashcards since; I didn’t want to see them run out,” Ella said at sentencing. “There are times when life has gotten difficult, and I just think, ‘I just want my dad.’”