Police reveal shocking aftermath of fatal M1 crash caused by driver using mobile phone
This is the shocking carnage caused by a driver using her mobile phone at the wheel on one of Britain’s busiest roads.
Police have released pictures which show the devastating consequences of Christy George’s deadly decision to phone a friend and her husband while driving along the M1.
As she used her mobile, she lost control of her Skoda and swerved towards the central reservation and collided with a lorry carrying Carlsberg beer.
The aftermath of the deadly M1 crash (SWNS)
The impact resulted in the HGV crossing the central reservation, where it ploughed into a BMW and killed Murray Simpson, 48, from London.
George, from Hucknall, Notts., was jailed for five years after she was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving at Leicester Crown Court in July.
She was also convicted of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice after she tried to delete her call log to cover her tracks.
Eight vehicles were involved in the accident (SWNS)
Now police have made the images of the eight-vehicle pile-up public.
Images show the mangled wreckage of the lorry with dozens of beer barrels strewn across the carriageway, as well as a smashed up van and a car being driven by Liese Bowers-Straw.
Liese, 47, was severely injured in the collision, which happened in November 2014.
The married mum has now spoken out about her traumatic ordeal as part of the campaign to highlight the danger of using a mobile while driving.
Among the badly injured was mum Liese Bowers-Straw (SWNS)
Liese had only received an MBE for her services to the Border Force a week before the tragic crash.
But she has now been left a prisoner in her own home for the past 20 months after suffering horrific injuries.
Liese, from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Notts., broke her neck in two places, tore muscles across her hips and stomach as well as suffering brain injuries.
She said she hasn’t been able to leave her home since the tragedy and can’t bear to get into or even look at a car.
She also has to close the curtains if she goes into one room at her house because it looks out on to a road.
Liese said: ‘If I can stop just one other person suffering what I have suffered then it will be worthwhile.
‘I remember seeing the headlights coming towards me where headlights shouldn’t be and I remember thinking that’s it, I’m a goner, I’m dead.
‘Then I don’t remember anything until the following day.
‘The collision has completely changed my way of life. I have gone from having a career I loved, a job that I loved, doing a lot of work, to being a prisoner in my own home.
‘Just think before you pick that mobile phone up.
‘Is that text or call that important? Is that text or call worth a life? I don’t think so.’
Liese says she cannot look at a road after the crash (SWNS)
Detective Constable Pete Davies, from Leicestershire Police, who helped investigate the crash, said it was the ‘largest collision site’ he’d seen.
He urged people not to use their phones while driving.
‘The roads are so busy now I think people should concentrate on the road. Nothing is that important it cannot wait.
‘Someone died in this collision and Liese has been left with the most appalling injuries as a result of someone who was too selfish to wait.’
