Driver Jailed 13 Months for Unsecured Crane Death

A lorry driver was sentenced to 13 months in prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to causing the death of a 30-year-old mother who was struck by an unsecured crane on his vehicle while pushing her daughter's pram in Cambridgeshire. Rebecca Ableman died on October 16, 2022, nearly a month after the incident on September 22, when the crane's grab hit her from behind on the pavement along the B1050 in Willingham.

Ms. Ableman, an NHS healthcare assistant aspiring to become a mental health nurse, had been walking with her two-year-old daughter, Autumn, after a shopping trip to a local farm shop. Witnesses and family statements described her final moments as heroic: she pushed the pram out of harm's way, absorbing the full impact herself. The blow caused catastrophic head and brain injuries, and she was airlifted to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, where life support was withdrawn weeks later.

Kevin Miller, 71, from Gayton Road in King's Lynn, Norfolk, was driving a lorry loaded with about 18 tonnes of scrap metal—disused railway track collected from a Network Rail yard in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. He had left his depot around 3:40 a.m. that day and was returning via the B1050, a 30...