Durham A1 fatal crash: Lorry driver's jail term to be reviewed

The prison sentence given to a lorry driver who killed three people in a crash is being reviewed to determine whether it was too lenient.

David Daglish, 57, and Elaine Sullivan, 59, of Seaham, and Paul Mullen, 51, of Washington, died in the A1(M) crash in County Durham last July.

Ion Onut, 41, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for eight years and 10 months.

The Attorney General's office said it could not reveal who referred the case.

Earlier this month Durham Crown Court heard how Onut's phone showed he had been browsing dating sites for 40 minutes before the crash.

Phone records confirmed he had been navigating between two dating sites, had spent almost £50 engaging with users and was looking at profiles and editing his own while driving, the hearing was told.

His lorry - laden with fertiliser - had been travelling at at least 50mph over that time.

Onut, originally from Romania but who had moved to Galashiels, had ignored warning signs alerting drivers to slow down because of a build-up of traffic caused by a spillage of handbrake fluid.

Witnesses saw him driving erratically and weaving across lanes minutes before the collision, on 15 July on the northbound carriageway near junction 61 at Bowburn.

Sentencing Onut last week Judge James Adkin said: "You were not asleep at the wheel, which would have been bad enough. In fact you were trawling the internet on dating sites looking for casual sexual partners."

Onut's lorry was travelling at 58mph when it hit a line of stationary traffic - first the Vauxhall Crossland which Mr Daglish and his partner Ms Sullivan were in before smashing Mr Mullen's Toyota Hilux under another lorry - and burst into flames.

There were two lorries and four cars involved in the collision and three other people suffered serious injuries.

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