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Once again the use of mobile phones whilst driving has hit the headlines:
A driver who killed a man while using two mobile phones behind the wheel has been jailed by a judge who branded such crimes "a plague on society".
 Marina Usaceva was driving a green Jaguar X-Type when she crashed into the back of a Peugeot 206, killing its driver.
The 31-year-old told police at the scene she had not been using a phone.
But examinations later found she had sent and received texts and calls on two separate mobiles shortly before the crash.
Prosecutor Georgina Gibbs told Peterborough crown court: "When she was told that two mobile phones had been found to be used on this occasion, she continued to deny it."
She added that the case was aggravated by the fact Usaceva was using "not one but two phones", meaning a jail term was necessary.
The crash happened on the A47 near Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, at about 4.30pm on 15 March last year.
Sukhdeep Singh Johal, 27, of Leicester, died at the scene.
Ian Brownhill, mitigating, said: "There is a gap of six minutes – I would say clear water – between using the phones and the accident itself."
Usaceva, of Peterborough, admitted causing death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.
She had previously been caught twice using her phone behind the wheel and her licence was endorsed in 2009 and 2012, the court heard.
Usaceva wept in the dock as Judge Sean Enright jailed her for six years and disqualified her from driving for eight years.
The judge said: "If you were not sending texts at the time, then you were fiddling with your phone and that is what caused this collision.
"In my opinion there is not a scrap of remorse. Mobile phone use while driving is a plague on our society."
The prosecutor said a police examination found Usaceva had used a Sony phone to send a text message at 4.15pm and receive a message at 4.17pm.
 A Samsung phone sent one message, made one phone call and receive three incoming calls in the 20 minutes leading up to the crash.
The prosecutor added her car was travelling at at least 70mph in a 60mph zone but witnesses said it was travelling significantly faster because it braked sharply for a speed camera, hitting Mr Johal and causing a three-vehicle pile-up.
He added that Usaceva was the sole carer of her eight-year-old son, whose father lives in Latvia, and called for the judge to consider his welfare in passing sentence.
Source: The Guardian
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