AN ex- Barnsley striker who killed a couple after ploughing his his ten-tonne lorry into them at 50mph has been jailed for five years.
Steven Bennett, 29, killed Angela, 56, and Richard Wong, 62, when his lorry crashed into their car on the M56 near Lymm, Cheshire.
The ex-footballer later claimed he had been distracted by a bird flying across the windscreen of his lorry but inquiries revealed just seconds before the tragedy had been trying to use the GPS on his phone.
Four other people were injured in the smash that happened in September 2019.
Appearing at Chester Crown Court, Bennett admitted two charges of causing death by dangerous driving and was banned from roads for four years.
Brian Williams prosecuting said: "The prosecution case is that he was heading towards a busy junction without paying any attention to the changing conditions ahead of him whilst handling his telephone.''
In a statement Mr and Mrs Wong's son Robert told the hearing: ''The deep pain of losing my parents at the same time has not got any easier in the two years since the accident.
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''Their needless deaths have caused a devastating impact on our family and will haunt us forever.
"There was no chance for us to say goodbye. Their loss has affected out children greatly as they now have no grandparents.
''My parents were good people. They had just started to slower pace of life and enjoy the fruits of their hard work. They were undeserving of their cruel fate.
In mitigation father of two Bennett, of Grimethorpe near Barnsley said he was remorseful and insisted he was not texting at the time of the crash.
But Judge Simon Berkson told him: ''This case can properly be described as tragic and harrowing.
''Sadly for all concerned you were not keeping a proper look out and did not appreciate what was happening.
''The lives of Richard and Angela have needlessly been lost because of your driving that day.
''Any sentence passed today will appear as nothing compared to the loss of life suffered and the consequential upset caused to those loved ones of the deceased. ''
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