Driver jailed over death of mum hit by crane while pushing pram

NHS healthcare assistant Rebecca Ableman, 30, was walking with her two-year-old daughter Autumn on a pavement by the B1050 in Willingham, Cambridgeshire, when she was hit from behind on 22 September 2022.

Kevin Miller, 71, of King's Lynn, Norfolk, had admitted causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving.

At the sentencing hearing at Peterborough Crown Court, Judge Matthew Lowe said: "Securing the crane unit would have been the work of moments."

Ableman, who lived in the village near St Ives, had left a farm shop in Station Road when she was hit at about 11:15 BST, the judge heard.

She had "catastrophic" brain injuries and died three weeks later.

Miller, of Gayton Road, had gone on trial in April 2025 after denying causing death by dangerous driving, but that trial was halted after lawyers said more time was needed.

Miller admitted causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving in February this year - on the day a second trial jury was due to start hearing evidence.

Ableman's father, Russell, told the judge, in a statement, that her "final act" had been to push Autumn away.

He said his daughter, who worked with patients with mental health problems at Fulbourn Hospital near Cambridge, "died a hero".

Her mother, Susan, said: "I will be eternally grateful that Autumn was unharmed."

Ableman's partner and father of Autumn, Chris Tuczemskyi, added: "Becky died because basic safety measures were not taken."

He asked the judge to send a "clear message" that "safety must always come first".

Prosecutors said Miller had begun his journey in King's Lynn and was moving scrap metal.

He had travelled to Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, and March in Cambridgeshire, and as he drove through Willingham the crane's unsecured grabber moved and was hanging over the side of his trailer.

The judge heard that Miller became aware, after leaving Willingham, that the equipment had moved and he had moved it back hydraulically.

Miller said he had not known there had been an incident until he was questioned by police.

He said "what's happened mate? I ain't hit no-one" and that he would have stopped had he known.

Prosecuting barrister William Carter said Miller had used the B1050 because of heavy traffic on bigger roads and as he drove through Willingham, the crane boom "slewed" to the nearside.

"It was his failure to adequately secure the boom of his crane which amounted to carelessness," Carter said.

"He had not taken... an elementary precaution of strapping the crane boom down separately."

Carter said Miller's lorry was also "poorly" maintained.

Barrister John Dye, for Miller, told the judge that what happened was an "unfathomable" tragedy.

Dye said Miller was a "hard-working, decent man", who had found himself involved in a "freak accident" which had taken a mental and physical toll on the defendant.

He said Miller had secured the crane without a strap for 40 years and was "devastated by the damage he has caused to the Ableman family".

He said Miller had no previous driving convictions.

'Slipshod approach'

The judge said: "This defendant's criminal failure to adequately secure the grabber crane on his trailer is the cause of Rebecca's death."

He said Miller had assumed hydraulics would prevent movement of the grabber assembly.

"The overall impression I get is of a generally slipshod approach to maintenance," he added.

He said industry guidance had been "firmed up".

Miller has also been disqualified from driving for two years upon his release from prison.