Distracted driver who sent 18 messages on Facebook and Snapchat before killing "clearly visible" cyclist in "wholly avoidable" collision jailed for six years

A driver distracted by her mobile phone who hit and killed a "clearly visible" cyclist in a "wholly avoidable" collision has been jailed for six years and eight months.

Sophie Waugh struck Ian Morris from behind on the A6055 in North Yorkshire on the afternoon of 28 June 2023, killing him instantly, and was on Friday jailed for six years and eight months at Teesside Crown Court having pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and accepting that she was using her phone "prolifically" behind the wheel.

North Yorkshire Police's Digital Forensics Unit proved that the 31-year-old, a serving soldier with the British Army, had locked and unlocked her device 10 times between leaving her workplace at Alanbrooke Barracks at around 2pm and the crash around 24 minutes later. She had sent 13 messages on Facebook and six on Snapchat, a total of 34 incoming and outgoing messages during the time of her journey alone.

"Significantly, the digital evidence report showed that the handset had locked at 2.24pm with the Instagram app on the screen," the force explained, 2.24pm around the time that emergency services were alerted to the collision by a member of the public.

Waugh has also been banned from driving for five-and-a-half years, the ban only coming into effect once she is released from prison. 

Witnesses reported seeing the driver veer to the left of the road, hitting Mr Morris, Waugh later claiming that she had not seen him. She initially claimed the cyclist must have swerved in front of her vehicle, but North Yorkshire Police's investigation and witnesses who "challenged her version of events" ultimately saw her plead guilty.

Detective Constable Laura Cleary, from the Major Collision Investigation Team, said: "Witnesses to the collision challenged her version of events, stating that Mr Morris was riding normally and wearing a long-sleeved fluorescent green cycling jersey and had a flashing red light on the rear of his bicycle at the time of the collision.

“They said it was Waugh's car that had veered towards Mr Morris. Thankfully, Waugh has now admitted causing death by dangerous driving and accepts that she was driving while using a mobile phone. This is one of the ‘Fatal 5’ factors in such collisions, the others being careless driving, drink and drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt and speeding.

"The horrific consequences of being distracted by mobile phones are plain to see in this case. This is a stark wake-up call for anyone who is tempted to use their phones while in control of a vehicle. Our thoughts remain with Mr Morris's family who have been left devastated by this wholly avoidable tragedy."

In a trio of family statements Mr Morris's wife Pauline and sons Jon and Tim expressed their grief.

"Ian Morris was my husband of nearly 50 years, a father to my two sons, a doting grandfather to our four beautiful grandchildren, and a close friend to many. His death has been a loss so great; words will not do it justice," Pauline said.

"We are still finding a way to live as a family without him, to manage the loss, to hold on tightly to the memories, to talk of him often, to keep him in our hearts without it breaking them. But it will never be over for us, the pain may dim, but our lives will never be the same again."

In a later section she explains how her husband took their usual route on a straight road with good visibility: "At night in bed, I go back through that day, and I struggled to understand what had happened. How could this nameless girl not see him, he had his lights and his green luminous top on, what was she doing? What could be more important than watching the road, more important than Ian’s life, hopefully I find that out today. I have not been able to get on a bicycle since, another hobby I used to enjoy.

"I never got to say goodbye and thank him for all the happy years we spent together. So, the impact is that I have learnt that grief is a very lonely road to walk, it is love that has no place to go. But in my heart of hearts, I know that Ian would want me and the family to get on with our lives, live them to the full and to be as happy as we can be. This is our goal."